Gambol
by Katana Star
Summary: While returning home from a mission, Sakura finds a lost and confused child in the woods. Can she help return the child home? Events take place post war.
1. Feral

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters…obviously. _

_Also I am really tired of this reporting and flaming BS because of Madara being older than Sakura. Alright, fine then. I'll switch it up. ;P_

_Anyway, onto the story! _

* * *

He hunched over resting his hands on his knees in a desperate attempt to catch his breath. He was unsure of the number of times he had passed the same tree marked by the blade of a kunai he had recovered from the enemy. Bands of shinobi unrelentingly appeared in waves attacking him for reasons unknown. With each cycle that appeared, he had successfully fended them off. However, he was destined to lose if he were to engage in another confrontation.

The odds definitely were not in his favor. His tattered cloak soiled in dirt and blood was beginning to adhere to his ashen skin. He had not eaten in days considerably exacerbating his fatigue and dizziness. An overwhelming surge of heat seized his body rendering his movements painfully sluggish. He was desperately parched unable to find any source of water in this boundless forest.

Despite his wounds, fatigue, disorientation, fever, and malnourishment the worst of his pains had to have been the irritating stinging sensation plaguing his eyes. Rubbing his eyes provided a brief relief from the stinging. However, he had repeatedly rubbed them to the point of rawness nullifying any persevered sense of relief.

He continued pressing forward through the never-ending forest. It seemed two options remained—die of exhaustion or die in battle.

A shuriken whizzed past his ear before becoming embedded in the trunk of a tree.

Death by battle it seemed.

This group of shinobi was much smaller than he had previously encountered consisting of only five men. He relayed reassuring thoughts to himself— he could take them out effortlessly.

The five men possessed the same musical note symbol etched on their headbands as his previous assailants also had.

"Come quietly or we'll take you by force." The leader of the band brandished a kunai.

He had lost track of the number of times his assailants uttered that same phrase. Evidently, they were determined to capture him for some undisclosed reason. If these particular shinobi were, in fact, dispatched to take him back _there_ again he would simply eliminate them as he had the others.

That was if he could muster the strength to fight back in his current condition.

The sound of battle erupting through the forest canopy had drawn her astray from her path. Sakura had instructed herself not to become involved in the conflict of other shinobi and to return to the village in a prompt manner.

After the Fourth Shinobi World War, the Five Great Shinobi Nations relished a fleeting moment of peace. However, over ninety percent of the Shinobi Alliance perished causing a population bottleneck of the shinobi populace largely consisting of adults and adolescents. All five nations had been devastated economically due to the war. Inflation skyrocketed as resources had grown scarce during the recovery period. Despite the Kages' resolve to preserve peace and maintain amity amongst the nations, the civilians began to lose faith in their leaders amidst the destitution of the economic depression. Rekindled hostility and distrust had seized the nations once again in competition for resources. The vision of worldwide peace that impassioned the hearts of every shinobi fighting on the battlefield, the very notion tens of thousands of shinobi relinquished their lives for…had been nothing more than an evanescent dream.

Most of the Great Nations' highest skilled medics had been devastated in the war resulting in a scarcity of medical resources across the lands. Sakura had been deployed to a small village on the northern outskirts of the Land of Fire in order to provide medical relief in the midst of a flu epidemic. Typically, the flu does not pose a threat in the adult population which is capable of fighting it off without calamity. However, this particular village had lost a large portion of its adult population in the war leading to a significant gap between the age groups. It primarily consisted of children and the elderly who were largely susceptible to the flu. The mortality rate in the village had been alarmingly high and the Hokage depended on her pupil to subdue the epidemic before it spread across the country.

Sakura had spent a long amount of time in this village ensuring the ill had been quarantined and treated. She attempted to address the epidemic as best as she could until more medical personnel had arrived. As the epidemic had reached the cusp of the convalescent stage, her duties had been relieved and she was discharged from the village.

She had insisted on trying to avoid the confrontation befalling the forest until she sighted an inexcusable injustice obliging her to intervene. She had seen the worst of atrocities transpire during the course of the war and she had become acclimated to the horrific cruelties mankind had to offer.

However, no matter how many times she had seen it occur, she could never stomach witnessing a child suffer.

Five Sound shinobi encircled a young raven haired boy clad in a ragged and bloodied cloak. Otogakure was notorious for capturing young children for use in slavery, experimentation, or as an addition to their shinobi ranks.

The boy appeared famished and sickly pale on the brink of fainting any second. Sakura did not waste any time inserting herself into the confrontation.

"Shannaro!" She roared with the fury of a mother bear protecting its cub.

Her fist connected with the jaw of the tallest assailant sending him flying into the trunk of a tree. The tree resounded with a loud crack as it snapped in half from the force of the airborne shinobi.

His comrades turned their venomous gazes to the pink haired kunoichi interfering with their mission. Two men rushed in towards her drawing their blades in concert. She drew a kunai blocking the blow of the blade to reach her first. He engaged her in a shoving match while his associate quickly pulled up alongside him. She grasped her attacker by the wrist yanking him off his feet with tremendous force and hoisted his body in the air. She launched his body straight into the approaching comrade knocking him down.

Before the two piled men had a chance to recover, she bounded into the air and drove her heel into the spine of the man at the top of the stack. The remaining shinobi shielded their faces as her immensely powerful axe kick sent debris in the air creating a large crater in the earth.

"Grab the kid!" She heard one of them call out.

"Like hell!" Sakura hollered lifting the trunk of the tree snapped in half by the first shinobi.

The boy observed the pink haired girl's display of raw, herculean strength as she slammed the tree trunk into the last two remaining assailants decidedly ending the battle.

Sakura heaved her last breath of belligerent fury and instantly switched to nurturing medic mode. She placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder bending down to his level.

"Are you alright?" She asked in a higher tone of voice, her emerald eyes ridden with concern.

He scowled pushing her hand off his shoulder. "I don't need your help."

She caught him as he attempted to turn away from her instead fainting into her arms. His body felt even lighter than she had anticipated.

She brushed his dark spiky bangs away and placed a hand on his brow noting seething heat emanating from his skin. In order to cool his fever she would have to backtrack towards the river she had just forded on her way home. She shed her backpack replacing the unconscious boy in its place and carried it in her arms. Determined to nurse the boy back to health she set off towards the riverbed.

* * *

Having found shelter in a shallow cavern, she continued addressing the boy's wounds sending chakra to the much deeper, life threatening wounds and patching the smaller, shallower ones with ointment and dressing. His fever had finally broken after washing the blood and grime off his body in the river and rewetting the rag on his brow with cold water each time it became tepid. She had washed his soiled cloak in the river and clothed him in it again after drying it in the sunlight. She draped her own cloak over him which was thick enough to prevent him from chills yet thin enough to prevent him from overheating.

She propped his head up on her lap as he seemed to be waking up and tipped a small bowl of red syrup into his mouth. "Drink."

He sipped the syrup cautiously barely lifting his eyelids open. He jerked violently startling Sakura and suddenly spit the medicine out.

"Gross! What is this?! You're trying to poison me!" His face soured bitterly as he continued trying to spit the syrup.

"Hey! Don't spit it out! That medicine is expensive!" She frowned sternly setting the bowl down. "It's a pain killer and fever reducer made for children. I can assure you it will make you feel better."

He shook his head and threw her a disapproving scowl. He had initially reckoned she was an adult when she fought off those shinobi however, having now seen her up close he realized she was merely a teenage girl.

"I don't trust you. You could be one of _them_."

Sakura smiled sweetly and poured water in the small bowl. "I promise I won't hurt you. I'm a medic from Konoha."

He accepted the bowl of water wanting to rid the taste of the disgusting syrup from his mouth. "Konoha…? I've never heard of it."

"Well, it's my hometown just south of here. By the way, my name is Haruno Sakura. What is yours?"

He seemed to brood for a moment as if he almost didn't know the answer to her question. "It's Madara."

"Madara?!" She exclaimed loudly in alarm.

He contorted his face having taken offense to Sakura's response. "Is there something wrong with my name?"

"It's just…well…" She waved her hand nervously noticing the boy's indignant scowl.

What kind of loving parents would name their child Madara? There were parents out there who named their children after objects, food, and infamous criminals simply for the cruel fun of it. This boy seemed to be in his preteen years but even before the Fourth Shinobi War the name Madara had long been retired from use due to the notoriety it had garnered. The boy had been in poor condition severely neglected and malnourished. Was he an orphan? Had he been rejected by his mother? It was uncommon for reluctant mothers in the hospital to give birth to an unwanted child and bequeath the child with a terrible name as if to curse its very existence.

She couldn't fathom calling the child Madara. Uttering such a poisoned name was as painful and uncomfortable as chewing on glass shards.

"Can I call you Mada-kun instead?" She asked forcing a smile. It still didn't feel any less uncomfortable.

"My name is Madara!" He raised his finger at her furiously reprimanding her for the unsolicited nickname.

"Mada-kun it is."

"Don't call me that!"

She tittered softly into her hand. "Judging by your spirit, I'd say you're starting to feel better, huh."

"I guess." He pouted rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Don't rub your eyes. You have an eye infection. You'll just introduce more microbes into your eyes." Sakura unscrewed the tops of two ophthalmic drop bottles. "Don't move. I'll rinse out your eyes first."

Madara squirmed as she forced his head still with one arm and drew the edge of the dropper closer to his eye.

"Hold still! It's just saline." She hissed and clamped his head in place between her arm and thigh.

First, she flushed his eyes with saline then instilled a drop of antibiotic in each eye. Madara's hands immediately snapped up to rub his eyes.

She slapped his hands startling him.

"Rub your eyes one more time and I'll tie them behind your back!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" He shouted at her dropping his arms back down to his sides.

Sakura narrowed her verdant green eyes in a foreboding manner. "I'm the medic here and if you want to get better you'll do as I say!"

He said nothing as she fished through her backpack and unwrapped a crumpled sheet of foil containing several dark spherical balls.

"What is that?" Madara curiously scrutinized the strange spherical food.

"They're food pills made from medicinal herbs, rice, flour, and vegetables. They'll help replenish your chakra." She handed him a single pill.

He split the pill in half with his teeth drawing one half into his mouth. His face immediately soured upon tasting the pill and yet again he spit up the pill desperate to rid the offensive taste from the palate of his mouth.

"You're trying to poison me again!"

"Stop wasting my medicine!"

* * *

He stood at the bank of the river hurling rocks into the running waters. Sakura observed him from a distance. A short while ago, he had been skipping rocks across the brim of the water but now it seemed like he was taking his anger out on the river. Now that he had regained his strength it was the perfect timing to further inquire about his situation.

Sakura approached him from behind. He snapped around toward her and yelled clenching his fingers around a rock. "Don't sneak up behind me!"

"Relax." Sakura raised her hand in an attempt to assuage his temper. "You're seem troubled. Is something bothering you?"

He turned away from her and flung the rock into the water.

"It's just that…" His brow knit in frustration. "I can't remember anything. I don't know where my family is…I don't know where my home is…I don't know where anything is. All I have is my name and nothing else."

"You don't remember anything? Did you hit your head?" Sakura asked placing her finger to her lip speculating the source of his amnesia.

He shook his head and retrieved another rock from the shore. "I don't remember."

Sakura watched him cast the rock into the river spraying water on the shafts of her boots. Judging by his weak and emaciated condition, the poor child must've endured severe abuse, neglect, or a traumatic incident which also instigated his amnesia. She was able to heal his wounds and nurse him back to health but there was nothing she could do to cure amnesia.

The only thing she could do now was find the nearest village to care for the child.

* * *

_A/N: Thanks for reading and please review! _


	2. Forfeit

They hitched a ride in a horse drawn wagon with a group of nomadic women who had introduced themselves as traveling performers. The women dressed in brightly colored shawls adorned with iridescent beads and sequins. They had been heavily clad in jewelry and precious metals worn both as part of their native attire and as protective amulets. Madara pulled the corner of his blanket closer swaddling himself in its warm layers. He did not appreciate the rough ride in the wagon jarring his stomach with every rock and pothole the wheels struck. Not to mention the grating jingling noises stemming from the bangles the women wore.

"You said you are heading toward Hinode?" Sakura asked a rotund woman who had presented herself as the leader of the band.

The chubby cheeked woman nodded her head amicably. "Yes, it's just a little ways southwest. We should arrive by dawn."

Hinode was a small village distinguished by its tourist attractions— particularly the many festivals held throughout the year and large performing arts theatre. It was deemed a relatively safe village as evidenced by the lower crime and poverty rate. Since it was not an area heavily influenced by shinobi activity it had not been stricken by the war to the extent the neighboring villages suffered.

It was north of Konoha though it would take several days to reach Konoha from there if she were to travel by foot. She would leave Madara in the care of Hinode and continue south back home to the comfort of her family and friends eagerly awaiting her return.

Sakura tapped Madara on the shoulder gently alerting him to an offering in her hand.

"Here, eat this." She handed him a helping of onigiri.

Madara accepted the rice ball scrutinizing it in his hands as if she had spiked it with a toxic substance. "I don't trust anything you give me anymore."

Sakura beamed pleasantly clasping her hands together. "I promise I didn't poison it."

He fixed a single eye on her warily and took a large bite from the ball of rice. Upon first impression the rice ball tasted innocent. Perhaps a bit dry but nothing unpleasant. A few moments after swallowing, an unforeseen and pungent aftertaste overwhelmed his palate.

Madara grasped his throat gagging as though he were dying of asphyxiation.

The nomadic women shot collective glances at him as his flustered retching broke through the vague murmurs of the coach.

He ceased his sickening retching and pointed his finger combatively in Sakura's face. "You snuck medicine in this!"

Sakura drew a long sigh folding her arms and crossing her legs simultaneously. "How else am I going to get you to take your medicine?"

"Don't you have anything that doesn't taste bad?"

She unzipped the top layer of her backpack drawing out a needle and syringe. "I'm afraid you leave me with no other options…"

"I'm not afraid of needles." Madara stated boldly smothering any nuance of fear from gracing his face.

"Very well then." Sakura uncapped the needle and flicked the head of the syringe popping the tiny air bubbles formed at the surface.

She rolled up the sleeve of Madara's cloak and held his arm in place preparing to insert the needle into his arm. He tensed his arm as the tip of the needle edged closer to his skin. Unable to curb his anxiety any longer, he jerked his arm from Sakura's grip and surrendered to the unpleasant tasting onigiri.

"I'll eat it! I'll eat it!" He hastily shoveled the entire rice ball into his mouth.

Sakura grinned triumphantly capping the needle. "I guess that did the trick."

He gagged yet again clutching his throat with both hands.

"You're overreacting!" Sakura berated the melodramatic child placing her hands on her hips sternly. She unbuttoned a small pouch and searched for something to mitigate his frenzied gagging.

Madara released his throat as Sakura handed him a small piece of hard candy. He inspected the round candy sealed in a bright red wrapper.

"How do I know you didn't spike this too?" He growled skeptically reluctant to accept the generous offering.

Sakura tilted her head slightly flashing him a kindly grin. "Because I only give candy to good kids who take their medicine."

She unraveled his fingers and placed the candy in the palm of his hand. He curled his fingers over the round sweet studying Sakura's smile for any hint of phoniness.

The woman sitting to Sakura's left chuckled lightheartedly covering her mouth modestly. "You're a wonderful big sister, Sakura-san."

"She's not my sister!" Madara hissed huffily.

"My, what a temper you have, little man." The woman giggled drawing in laughter from the rest of her companions.

To Madara's dismay, Sakura also joined in the shared laughter. He folded his arms and remained silent incensed by the patronizing attitude of the women.

"Why don't we pass the time with some music?" A dark skinned woman wearing braids opened a guitar case.

She began to strum a melancholy chord and sang breathily. Two more women backed her vocals providing a soothing chorus to the melody. The song began slowly and softly reminiscent of a lullaby sung to children. Their voices crescendo before coming to a brief pause. The guitarist hastened the melody to a faster tempo. The rest of the women clapped and rattled their bangles to the rhythm. Sakura joined the mirthful band of women dancing and hollering to the lively tune. She clapped her hands to the beat of the song and shook her shoulders weaving back and forth with the woman seated across from her.

"You're a lovely dancer, Sakura-san. You should join our group." The leader handed Sakura a tambourine.

Madara folded his arms sinking into the seat of the wagon withdrawing himself from the scene of singing and dancing women.

Sakura noticed the reclusive boy distancing himself from the blissful activity. She offered him a tambourine hoping to invite him in on the fun. He pursed his lips firmly and snapped his head to the side visibly miffed by her gesture. She shrugged her shoulders resigning herself from trying to cheer up the child and banged on the rim of the tambourine resuming pace with the animated song.

The music waned as the wagon approached the village of Hinode. Sakura glanced to her side at the young boy propped up against her shoulder fast asleep. She knew very well the imminent outburst she would have to endure if she dare wake the child now.

The nomads dropped them off at the doorstep of the village leaders.

"Please come watch our performance at the circus!" The head of the traveling performers called out as the wagon wheeled away.

"Bye Sakura-san! Bye Mada-kun!" The women chorused bidding their farewells.

Sakura waved goodbye to the band of nomads disregarding Madara's unamused glower in response to being called his not so desired nickname.

She met with the village leaders, a married couple named Kouta and Kaede, disclosing all the information she had known regarding Madara's situation.

"Rest assured, Sakura-san. We welcome the boy with open arms." Kouta rested a hand on Madara's shoulder oblivious to the peeved expression on the boy's face.

"We promise to take good care of him." Kaede pat the boy on the head further deepening the scowl sewn into his face.

Sakura laughed nervously and handed Kaede a plastic baggy full of medications. "Please make sure he gets a drop of ointment in each eye at least twice a day. And do be sure to give him his antibiotics over the course of the week before each meal. He doesn't like to take them so try hiding it in some food. Also his bandages need to be changed every morning, oh, and try to make sure he gets plenty of zinc in his diet so his wounds heal faster and…"

"Whoa slow down, Sakura-san!" Kaede waved her hand flustered by Sakura's grocery list of instructions. "I'm gonna need a pen and paper to get this all down."

Kouta spoke up lifting his hand from the boy's shoulder. "Why don't you stay the night, get some rest, eat some good food..."

Sakura shook her head politely. "Thank you but I must be on my way now."

"Before you go, why don't you at least take Mada-kun to see the circus? I'm sure he'd like to go, right Mada-kun?" Kouta spoke in a higher tone of voice Madara perceived as annoyingly condescending. "I have two tickets."

"I guess we could go see it before I leave." Sakura shrugged her shoulders.

After a quick change of clothing, Sakura and Madara set off for the circus.

All kids loved the circus—the flashing colors, the sugary and fried foods, the performing animals, the astounding acrobatics and comedic acts—all except Madara. There was no pleasing the child. He wore a total of two expressions on his face—anger and disinterest. Trying to amuse the boy was akin to trying to make Sasuke laugh at a joke. It was just not plausible. Any attempt only seemed to further irritate him.

Sakura couldn't help but feel embarrassed that the circus attractions highly amused her while Madara was unaffected by it. It made her feel immature and childish at heart.

She bought him a stick of cotton candy with the little money she had remaining.

At least he seemed appreciative of the food or rather the fact that it was not food prepared by her.

They sat on the food court benches taking a short respite from standing on their feet all day.

Their brief break was immediately disrupted by a feminine scream in the distance.

Sakura raced toward the source of the scream with Madara trailing closely behind her. A large crowd had congregated around a boy lying supine on the ground gasping desperately for air.

Sakura parted the crowd until she reached the subject in distress. She crouched down placing her hands on the young boy's chest.

"Mada-kun, please get my backpack!" Sakura instructed him.

He hurried off paddling through the crowd in search of Sakura's backpack left behind at the food court.

"What happened?" Sakura asked the sobbing woman standing near the boy's head.

"I don't know! He suddenly just collapsed without warning!" The thin, seedy woman cried out.

Sakura tuned out the murmuring crowd and focused on assessing the boy's condition. She evaluated his heart first. His heart contracted weakly severely dropping his blood pressure. It was difficult to tell exactly what caused the boy to go into shock. It could've been a myriad of various ailments which was challenging to discern without knowing the background behind the boy's condition.

First and foremost, she had to increase the force of his heart contractions in order to keep him alive. A bright green light emanated from her hands sending chakra to his heart. Despite her efforts to address his heart, his condition didn't seem to improve. He wheezed desperately indicating either a blockage or constriction of his airways.

The on looking crowd murmured louder as they continued watching the girl attempt to save the young boy.

Madara returned promptly setting the backpack down beside her. He knelt down behind Sakura watching the ailing boy fight to remain alive.

He uttered indifferently. "It doesn't matter what you do. He's going to die anyway."

Sakura flinched as if his words had stabbed her directly in the back. An icy shiver relayed down her spine triggering her entire body to shudder.

"_It doesn't matter what you do. He's going to die anyway._" A deep, menacing voice spoke within her mind. It was a voice she had banished to the deepest abyss of her aural memories.

Her hands quivered violently as she recalled the events of the war she hoped would never return to the brim of her thoughts ever again. She knelt in the same position over her dying blonde comrade siphoning every last ounce of chakra to her hands in order to keep him alive. Despite her desperate efforts, his pulse only seemed to weaken and her precious friend's life slipped away from beneath her fingertips. When she believed the situation couldn't have declined any further, Uchiha Madara—the incarnation of pure evil—spoke those very same words into her ear mocking her frantic attempt at saving Naruto's life.

Sakura choked back tears as her entire body trembled uncontrollably. She drew her hand back and spun around towards the boy kneeling behind her.

"You fucking bastard!" She screamed spitefully at maximum volume delivering an unmerciful slap to his face.

The sheer force of the slap nearly winded the boy. Madara quickly recovered his balance and sat upright connecting his gaze with Sakura's. Her dulled green eyes exuded an unbridled hatred that rendered the girl nearly unrecognizable.

He was beset by a conflicting myriad of emotions unsure which would manifest into a reaction first. He wanted to cry, he wanted to rage, but he remained petrified unable to solicit a response from his body.

His cheek throbbed excruciatingly but that pain did not compare to the blow dealt by the toxic look in her eyes.

"Give her some space, kid!" Two adults grasped Madara by each arm dragging him away from the scene.

Tears splashed onto the young boy's t-shirt as Sakura grasped her face unsure of what further action to take. The crowd erupted into a loud panic.

"Hurry! Please Nobu will die!" The thin woman wept.

"What happened? Why did she stop healing him?"

"Please do something!"

"Oh my god! He's going to die!"

Sakura pressed her hands to the boy's chest again struggling to retain focus amidst the uproar of the crowd.

She reminisced of the war to the most desperate moments she had ever endured in her lifetime. As her chakra rapidly ebbed away Naruto's life followed suit. She would not let that heartless bastard have the satisfaction of murdering all of the members of Team 7. She had recalled Chiyo's words from the Gaara rescue mission and discontinued trying to heal Naruto. She uttered a few words of gratitude to her elderly mentor under her breath. Instead of utilizing her remaining chakra to heal, she performed another type of jutsu to restore her comrade's life. She would prove that bastard Uchiha wrong!

Naruto would live to see Sasuke fight beside him as well as the shinobi world supporting him in a spirit of brotherhood.

Naruto would live to defeat Uchiha Madara and seal the Juubi.

Naruto would live to achieve his dream of becoming Hokage.

But Sakura's life…

Her own life had been…

Sakura's eyes flittered open snapping her back to the present reality. She took a deep breath restoring her concentration to the task at hand.

She mentally drowned out the noise of the crowd and cut away the boy's t-shirt with a kunai to prevent his clothes from further constricting his airways. His abdomen had been enveloped in red, angry rashes.

Anaphylaxis.

She searched her backpack for a vial of epinephrine but recalled she had run out of stock back at the previous village. It seemed she would have to systemically vasoconstrict his blood vessels manually. She rested her hands on his chest again sending chakra throughout his body in an effort to constrict the dilated blood vessels responsible for his shock.

She lifted her hands away from his skin and rose to her feet. "He's going to be alright now."

"Oh, Nobu!" A dark haired woman rushed to the boy's side smothering him against her large bosom. She suddenly gazed up at the thin woman furiously. "Did you let Nobu have strawberries again? I told you he was allergic to strawberries!"

"Please forgive me, Aya-san. I didn't know…" The thin woman begged.

"You're fired!" She roared with the vigor of a mother tiger. She turned to Sakura bowing her head graciously. "Thank you. You saved my son's life."

"It was nothing." Sakura scratched the back of her head humbly. "Make sure he gets plenty of fluids."

Madara observed the crowd gather around Sakura showering her in praise and admiring her medical expertise.

* * *

Sakura rested that night at the village leaders' house utterly exhausted from the dramatic ordeal. The following morning, she thanked the leaders' for their generous hospitality and departed.

As she neared the village gates, someone called her name from a distance.

"Mada-kun?"

The raven haired boy trotted up before her. He avoided her gaze and began. "Sakura..."

"Huh?" She awaited his further words.

"You saved that boy." He raised his gaze, sincerity behind his dark eyes. "I'm sorry for doubting your abilities."

"I'm sorry for slapping you. I was really stressed out and not thinking clearly." Sakura bent down to his level. She brushed his bangs away from his forehead. "You truly are a sweet child."

Madara's lips parted as she planted a gentle kiss on his forehead. His eyes broadened absorbing nothing but the pink locks draping down the sides of her face.

Her lips whispered in his ear serenely. "I hope you never have to experience war in your lifetime."

She rose to her feet watching him touch his fingertips to his forehead. A deep red blush painted the apples of his cheeks.

"Hey!" He shouted pointing his finger at her indignantly.

Sakura giggled into her hand taking pleasure in his embarrassment as he folded his arms and scowled. At least she had captured the opportunity to see him wearing a different expression if even for a brief moment. She would certainly miss his little outbursts and short temper.

"Goodbye, Mada-kun." She turned away and sauntered toward the exit.

He touched his fingers back to his forehead as he watched her walk away until she was nothing more than a fine speck in the distance.

* * *

_A/N: Thanks for reading and please review!_

_To __MinaBlahBlahBlahAnimeFan__: Do you mind repeating that again? I'm afraid I didn't catch your message. :P _


	3. Erasure

Sakura branch hopped through the trees both physically and emotionally fatigued from the eventful day prior. No longer saddled with the burden of caring for the child, she could hasten her pace and reduce the number of breaks on route to Konoha. It wouldn't take too long to reach the village at this point.

She halted in her tracks having come across a group of male shinobi hampering her path. She heaved a mental sigh of relief recognizing the moss green flak jackets indicative of Konoha ninja. A familiar auburn haired man commanded the band of shinobi.

"Ah, it's you Reiji-san." Sakura smiled cordially dropping her hands to her sides as a display of camaraderie.

Reiji was a previous patient of hers during the Fourth Shinobi World War. She recalled he had suffered massive head trauma in the battle against the resurrected Seven Swordsman of the Mist.

"Capture her." Reiji ordered callously donning brass knuckles over his fingers.

His associates did not hesitate to surround the lone kunoichi.

"What?! There must be some kind of mistake?" Sakura's skin blanched completely floored by his treacherous words. She twisted left and right gauging a route of escape.

Upon further examination, she noticed the slash marks etched into each of their headbands. She deduced, despite their deceiving Konoha attire, that they were rogue-nin.

"Not only is she exotic looking but she is also the Hokage's apprentice. She will fetch a high price at auction." Reiji's eyes inspected her like a slab of meat, calculating her prospective value.

"Why Reiji…? We were once allies fighting alongside each other for the sake of the shinobi world!" Sakura protested avidly hoping to evoke a change of decision.

The man's cold eyes did not dither. Evidently, her words had not reached him.

"I lost everything…I lost my house, I lost my brother, and I lost my lover. I have nothing left to live for. The Hokage spoke of nothing but fanciful lies and we bought into her bullshit. But, you have to do what you can to survive. It's just simple business."

Was that all she was to him? She salvaged his life from the brink of death and he repaid her by degrading her to a measly object deemed to be auctioned and sold? She yearned to pump chakra into her fists and decimate the traitorous shinobi closing in on her. However, she could not simply discredit the memories of the very same men as comrades and vulnerable patients who had relied on her through Katsuyu's protection—clinging to her chakra—for their survival.

Instead of fighting back, she concentrated chakra to the soles of her feet in order to accentuate her speed and avoid their assault. If she could not muster the fortitude to harm these men then her only option was to flee. Her attackers were incredibly diligent in ensuring her chances of escape were close to nil.

She bolted through the forest deflecting the ceaseless array of kunai flying in her direction. She knew these men were very well capable of sending long ranged attacks her way rendering her flight futile. Long ranged combat was not her forte and she would need to stun the men with as much brute force as she could conjure in order to end their pursuit.

"What shall we do with the kid?" She heard one of the men speak up.

What kid?

She wheeled around facing opposite from her previous trajectory.

A man seized a young boy in a secure bear hug. The boy bucked vigorously in the man's hold.

"Mada-kun?!" Sakura gasped suspending her plan of escape and switching to the offensive.

Why was he here? What compelled that stubborn child to leave the security of Hinode's borders and follow her all the way out here?

"Kill him. He serves no value to us." She heard Reiji reply.

Madara drew a kunai from the holster strapped to the belt of his captor and thrust the blade behind himself stabbing the man in the abdomen. He slithered out of his captor's hold drawing his attention to the next round of shinobi lunging toward him. He wrenched the kunai out of the downed rogue preparing to combat the approaching shinobi head-on.

"Hold on, Mada-kun!" Sakura shouted sprinting in the boy's direction oblivious to the threat closing in behind her.

Reiji seized Sakura by the arm yanking her backward. His heavy brass clad knuckles rapped her in the back of the head immediately rendering her unconscious. Her knees buckled no longer capable of supporting her weight. He caught her as she plummeted forward and unceremoniously hoisted her over his shoulder like a bag of rice.

"Forget the auction let's have some fun with her." Reiji's associate grinned darkly.

Madara leapt backward weaving hand signs at breakneck speeds. He inhaled deeply inflating his cheeks and expelled a massive inferno engulfing the oncoming rogue-nin.

Reiji's head snapped to the direction of the agonized screams emanating from his comrades immersed in the wrathful blaze. He flipped two fingers in the child's direction cuing another barrage of shinobi to the offensive.

"That's quite a katon you've got there but child's play is reserved for the academy!" A swordsman plunged from the ledge of a tree branch preparing to deal an aerial blow.

Madara closed his eyes folding his arms snugly against his torso while the rogue-nin honed in on him from various angles. A skeletal construct formed around the boy suddenly buffeting the shinobi.

"Fuck! He's got the Sharingan!" The swordsman bellowed noting the blood red gleam radiating from the boy's eyes.

An ethereal blue creature sprung forth from boy like a guardian spirit that could only manifest through a demented child's imagination. The swordsman grunted unable to escape the monster's merciless grasp crushing his bones against his organs.

The boy would deal these shinobi the same way he had dealt with the all the others he had previously encountered—by disemboweling them with the immense power bestowed upon him by his eyes.

A gut wrenching scream followed the repulsive sound of snapping bone and splattering blood. The monstrous spirit released the swordsman's mangled body turning its focus to its next victim. The rogue Konoha shinobi remained immobilized taken aghast by the spray of blood coating the forest foliage red.

The humanoid being indiscriminately plucked a single nin from the crowd suspending him in the air like a doll. The man's comrades watched on in sheer horror as the monster nonchalantly ripped the man's arms from his torso as if tearing the wings off an insect. Casting the mutilated ninja aside, the ethereal monster formed a pair of curved blades constructed from chakra.

The band of shinobi attempted to flee the monster's limitless stock of curved blades pitched in their direction.

Reiji watched his comrades fall one by one skewered by the relentless bombardment of the monster's weapon until he was the last to remain. He longed desperately to cover his eyes to the grisly sight befallen him reminiscent of the despair borne on the battlefield. Visions of his brother and girlfriend impaled by the wooden stakes of the Juubi plagued his conscious alike an inescapable nightmare. All he had done—all he could do—was stand around screaming and cursing at the injustices of reality while his allies continued dropping before his eyes.

He ran clutching the girl's unconscious body as though she were the last lifeline remaining to release him from his miserable existence. A sharp pain jolted through his leg as he stepped on the instep of his foot crumbling to the ground. Sakura's body escaped his grip rolling ahead of him until inertia halted her body before the root a tree.

Reiji propped himself up into a crablike position sobbing hysterically as the child casually ambled toward him.

He had survived the battle against the resurrected famed swordsmen of the Mist, he had survived the wrath of the Juubi and its jinchuuriki Uchiha Obito and Uchiha Madara, he survived his friends, family, and comrades on the battlefield to experience the celebratory victory of the Shinobi Alliance.

But this time he cried and pleaded desperately only to determine his pleas fell on deaf ears.

This time his life was at the mercy of a mere child.

The boy hovered over him ominously subjecting the adult to his ruthless whim. His youthful voice resonated with the malice of a butcher.

"**I'm done playing now.**"

* * *

Sakura lifted her eyelids slowly, pained by the sun's bright rays burning her retinas. Her skull throbbed tenderly and she was certain she had suffered yet another concussion. Concussions seemed to be a common occurrence for her and she swore if she suffered just one more she would end up forgetting her most basic life functions.

Madara knelt over her inquisitively. Dried streaks of blood caked his face.

"Mada-kun?!" Her upper body snapped upward.

A wave of nausea flushed over her. Succumbing to the powerful dizzy spell, she flopped back down to the ground with a noisy thud.

"Wha…what happened the rogue-nin?" She took a deep breath.

"I don't know…" Madara answered rather bluntly. His eyes shifted to the side avoiding her gaze. "They're probably…not ok."

"Huh?" She raised an eyebrow baffled by his abstruse answer.

Had he fended off all of those ninja by himself?

Despite her concussion, she was fortunate her injuries did not seem too severe. She suffered a few scrapes and bruises but she was more concerned for Madara's sake.

"Why? Why didn't you stay in Hinode?" She did not stifle the anger from bleeding into her worried tone of voice.

He crossed his arms still dodging her gaze. "I don't trust them…"

At first, his simplistic answer infuriated her until she recalled the probable source of his amnesia. She sighed relinquishing her frustration and mentally berated herself for her insensitivity. The boy had apparently experienced some traumatic episode causing him to feel isolated and distrustful. It was unfair of her to spring him upon a couple of strangers expecting him to trust them so easily. If he was a survivor of abuse, it was inevitable that he would become attached to someone he perceived as safe such as herself. If it had been any other child she could've depended on Hinode's leaders to care for the child. However, the margin of error with a damaged child was so thin it would require a skilled professional to properly rehabilitate the child lest they become a damaged adult.

There weren't many resources she could list off the top of her head that specialized in mental therapy for children. However, there was an elderly woman in Konoha who rehabilitated orphaned and abused children deemed unsuitable for the shinobi lifestyle.

This time, she would choose his next caretaker more considerately.

Foremost, healing the boy's wounds was her highest priority. But she could not assess him until she could sit up comfortably.

"Mada-kun, do you mind grabbing the anti-nausea meds from my bag? They are small, white pills." Sakura instructed the boy.

He hauled the backpack by the strap beside her and rummaged through the zippers. He drew a packet of white pills from the top zipper and held it before her nose. "These?"

"No, those are for hypertension." Sakura waved her hand rejecting the pills. "They should be in the largest pouch."

"This one?" Madara contorted his face holding a large oblong pill.

"That's not it."

"Is this it?" He pulled out a packet containing a long array of individually packaged pills labeled with the days of the week over each pill slot.

"No, those are my…" A rosy hue washed over Sakura's face.

Madara curiously inspected the packet puzzled as to why she seemed so perturbed by it.

"I get painful cramps, alright!" She snapped at him.

He stuffed the packet back inside the bag and shouted back at Sakura with matched vigor. "Why are you yelling at me about it?!"

Now feeling as though she had been stripped naked, Sakura no longer wanted him rummaging through her backpack.

"Forget the meds. Just grab the food pills in the very bottom pouch."

At least it was fairly easy to locate and distinguish the food pills. He unraveled the crumpled foil handing Sakura a single pill. Tears streamed from her eyes as she struggled to obfuscate her revolted grimace.

She squeezed her eyes shut forcing a soured grin. "Very nutritious…"

"How do you expect me to eat those things when you can't stand them either!" Madara pointed his finger at her calling her out on her hypocrisy.

She grasped his finger and sat up, beaming at him deviously. "Careful or you might lose that finger."

She sat erect assessing his body for injury. Thankful he had been unscathed, she dampened a washcloth with saline and dabbed the dried blood from his face.

His cheeks tinged with heat as her face had drawn close to his own. He suddenly leaned back throwing her a huffy pout which she countered with a tender smile.

Overtaken with exhaustion, she yawned loudly stretching her stiff arms. Madara followed suit and began to rub his eyes. She snatched him by the wrists examining his inflamed conjunctiva.

"Your eye infection has gotten worse. Do you have the drops on you?"

Madara shook his head and muttered flatly. "No."

"What?! You left the eye drops in Hinode?!" She suddenly seized his shoulders.

"Well, you have more, right?"

Sakura jarred him forcefully by the shoulders. "I'm not a walking pharmacy, you know! Those drops were terribly expensive!"

* * *

She gazed listlessly into the small campfire Madara had set ablaze with a simple katon jutsu. He rested beside the campfire basking in the comforting warmth of the flames. He periodically stirred and muttered in his sleep piquing her curiosity.

What kinds of things did he dream of?

Where did he come from?

Where was his family?

Was there anyone out there searching for him?

She couldn't help but pity the poor child and vowed she would do her best to help him seek sanctuary from his plight.

For now, she would do all she could to protect him until they reached the village. On that thought, she allowed herself to drift off to sleep.

_A hissing voice called out to him. _

"_Awaken, Madara." _

_His eyelids flipped open shooting a stream of tiny bubbles upwards. _

_Where was he?_

_He seemed to be immersed in some type of liquid chamber. Two unfamiliar men stood before his enclosure viewing him as if he were some kind of captive animal on display. _

"_Ah, you're finally awake, Madara." A pasty skinned man spoke softly. _

_Madara?_

_His bespectacled underling tapped the glass casing of his enclosure. "Do you suppose he remembers anything?" _

"_No." The serpentine man chuckled with a slight wheeze. "He should be as pure as an infant." _

"_I reckon he will be as powerful as he was before but we won't know for sure until we test him out and make the necessary modifications." The bespectacled man smirked, relishing the prospect of testing his new subject. _

"_I have no doubts the child harbors the same potential as his adult self. But this time he comes with the added benefit of lacking an identity. He shall serve as a fine vessel." _

_The bespectacled underling nodded agreeably. "He is a fine specimen, indeed, Orochimaru-sama." _

_The snake-like man tapped on the glass and flashed the boy a delighted grin. "Your body belongs to me." _

Madara suddenly sat up gasping for air as if he had been submerged beneath water startling Sakura awake.

"Mada-kun, are you alright?"

* * *

_A/N: Again, thanks for reading and reviewing! More to come!_


	4. Impulse

Sakura propped herself up to a seated position fixing her sleep-ridden gaze on the panting boy who had neglected to answer her.

"Mada-kun…?" She spoke yet again failing to rouse his attention.

His chest heaved rapidly, eyes wide like a feral animal facing its imminent demise.

Did he have a frightening nightmare?

At a loss for words, Sakura continued to watch the boy gasp for air unsure of what further action to take. She wrapped her arm behind him pulling him to a snug embrace.

Her opposite hand rested atop his head. His incessant panting ceased as he held his breath dazed by the sudden closeness to the girl. She held him firmly against her chest sliding her hand down the back of his head.

"It's ok…" She breathed warmly hoping to lull the boy's anxiety.

Madara said nothing immobilized by the binds of his stupor. He released his stifled breath finally allowing himself to melt comfortably into the girl's compassionate embrace. His muscles relaxed liberating him from the heavy burden of tension gripping his body. She smiled weakly watching him slowly drift back to sleep in the comfort of her bosom.

The following morning they arrived at the Naka River which snaked through the northern boundaries just beyond Konoha.

Just a few more hours by foot and she would be back home at last!

Sakura decided they would take a short break at the bed of the river before fording it. She approached the boy standing silently before the rushing waters.

"Are you skipping rocks again?" She asked teasingly placing her hand on his shoulder.

She poked her nose over his shoulder taking a glimpse at his scarlet red face. His lips peeled back flashing her a peek of his gnashing teeth.

"Don't stand behind me!" He snarled at her pulling his robe together in a flustered manner.

"Eh? Is something wrong?" Sakura asked tilting her head inquisitively.

"I was going to pee but now you're hovering all over me!"

Sakura waved her hand laughing shamelessly. "Oops, sorry. It was an honest mistake."

She kicked off her boots haphazardly and tiptoed across the gritty rocks immersing her toes in the shallow water. "Don't contaminate the water just yet. I want to soak my feet."

"Yeah…honest mistake." Madara muttered folding his arms bitterly.

Sakura kicked her foot spraying him in a gentle mist of water. "Loosen up a bit, will ya? Maybe a nice dip in the water will soothe your grouchiness."

Madara's brow descended scrunching his eyes into a seething glower as she giggled softly kicking up water carelessly. He crouched down discreetly retrieving a stone from the shore.

"Ow!" A rock struck Sakura directly in the forehead disrupting her cheery frolic in the river. She clinched her hand over her brow smothering the sharp pain. "What was that for?"

"I was aiming for that giant target on your forehead." Madara answered mockingly plucking another rock from the shore.

Giant target? Was he referring to her Byakugou Seal?

This time she ducked evading another stone hurled toward her large brow. "My forehead is not target practice!"

Initially she stomped her way out of the waters. As she reached the shore, she approached the child imperturbably. Madara took a heedful step backward wary of the inexplicably serene expression plastered on her face. She rested a hand on his shoulder bending down to his level.

"You should know, Mada-kun..." Sakura suddenly slung her arm against the back of his knees scooping him up into her arms. She hoisted him into the air and marched back into the shallow waters. "…that you will never win a fight against me!"

She roared wildly like a gorilla on a tantrum chucking the boy into the river. "Shannaro!"

Madara flailed fruitlessly before hitting the freezing waters. The water danced around him stinging his skin harshly as he flopped against the surface. He breached the surface spluttering from the intrusive water invading his mouth and nostrils. The weight of his sodden clothes pulled him further into the depth of the river.

She grinned triumphantly as he paddled toward the shore. He submerged his head prowling stealthily beneath the water towards Sakura's feet. He seized her ankle and yanked forcefully.

Sakura shrieked toppling backward into the water.

"I win." Madara laughed cheerfully, wading in the water beside her.

Sakura forced a jet of bubbles from her nostrils relaying her marked displeasure. Tempted to rebuke the boy's mischievous behavior, she held her tongue as he continued to indulge in laughter. It was the first time he had engaged in playful behavior and forsaken his serious disposition. Ethically, she could not permit herself to quash his joy. Forfeiting her mock battle with the boy, she continued wading in the water forcing her head to linger above the surface.

She cast him a congratulatory smile. "I guess you did."

"What? You gave up too easily!" He protested unconvinced of her concession.

They arrived at the entrance of Konoha within the three hours Sakura had estimated it would take to reach the village past fording the river. Madara traveled upon her back peering over her shoulder engrossed in the new environment surrounding them.

"Welcome to Konoha." Sakura's eyes flittered back toward Madara.

As they pressed on past the entrance gates, Madara's finger pointed straight ahead of Sakura. "What's that?"

Sakura squinted in the direction of his finger sighting only the colossal stone monument engraved with the visages of all of the village's leaders. She figured, in their shared field of vision, that the monument was likely the only object of interest to any newcomer.

"That's the Hokage Monument." Sakura answered halting in her tracks to allow the boy a decent view.

"Hokage?" He parroted curiously.

"They served as the leaders of the village. The first one is Senju Hashirama followed by his brother Senju Tobirama. Then the one after that is Sarutobi Hiruzen. He was a student of the Nidaime. After that is Namikaze Minato. He's my friend's father. The last is Tsunade. She's the granddaughter of the Shodai and student of the Sandaime. She is also my mentor."

Madara said nothing as he attempted to digest Sakura's rushed and verbose clarification.

"Maybe when I have time I'll give you a more in depth history lesson later." Sakura continued onward toward her destination.

She rapped the door of a small house immediately rousing the sound of many tiny feet bolting toward the door.

"Sakura-san!" A pig-tailed girl answered the door followed by a hoard of young children.

"Sakura-san! Kuni-baasama, it's Sakura-san!" A young boy tugged on the sleeve of an elderly woman.

The elderly woman chuckled hoarsely as the boy attempted to drag her by the sleeve. "Slow down, Taro. My aching joints can't keep up with you."

"Busy as ever, I see." Sakura beamed cordially allowing Madara to slide down her back landing on his feet.

"Ah, Sakura-san. It's been a while. How are you doing, sweetheart?" Kuni clasped her hands together as the group of children congregated around Sakura.

"I've just returned from a long, tiring mission but I suppose I'm doing well. I'd hate to burden you but I'm in need of a favor."

"Anything for you, my dear." Kuni nodded graciously.

"Well, I found him lost in the woods and the problem is that he seems to be suffering from amnesia. He doesn't remember his home or his family." Sakura placed a hand on Madara's head. "Would you mind taking him in for a while?"

"Of course not!" Kuni answered fixing her eyes on the raven haired boy. She crouched down stiffly speaking in a higher tone of voice. "And what's your name?"

"It's Mada-kun." Sakura answered for him ruffling his spiky hair teasingly.

Madara scowled piqued by the many tiny eyes bearing down on him as if he were a brand new pet.

"Welcome to Hoshi House, Mada-kun. I'm sure you'll fit in very quickly here." Kuni wrapped her arm around the back of his shoulder guiding him towards the herd of children.

The children crowded Sakura interested in the contents of her bag.

"Did you bring any candy?" The pig-tailed girl inquired as the rest of the children surrounded Sakura like an inescapable mob.

Sakura smiled zipping open the pouch of her bag. "I suppose I have a few pieces left for everyone."

The children cheered noisily as she distributed the small pieces of hard candy. Their small grabby hands snatched up the pieces as if they would never receive the opportunity to enjoy the sweets again.

"Sakura-san is the best! She always brings us candy!" One of the young girls chirped unraveling her sucker.

Sakura corrected the children raising a sole finger in the air. "I always bring you candy _after_ you have had your shots."

"We're not getting shots today, are we?" A young boy's tone suddenly deadpanned.

The children immediately fell silent.

Following a pregnant pause, Sakura uttered a hearty laugh. "No, no shots today. I promise!"

"Sakura-san, you are too kind to the children." Kuni stated clasping her hand against her cheek.

"Well, I'd better get going. Tsunade-sama is awaiting my report."

She waved a quick goodbye heading towards the door. "Goodbye, kids! Goodbye, Mada-kun! I'll be sure to visit."

Madara suddenly appeared behind Sakura halting her at the door. "Sakura, wait!"

She waited patiently as he muttered beneath his breath fishing for his next string of words.

"I…um…"

"Mada-kun loves Sakura-san!" Taro cackled loudly interrupting the boy.

The children broke into spirited laughter and began to chorus. "Mada-kun loves Sakura-san! Mada-kun loves Sakura-san!"

A vivid red hue tinted the raven haired boy's face. He snapped at the top of his lungs chiding the obnoxious children. "You're all a bunch of brats! Every single last one of you!"

Sakura gripped his shoulders smiling down upon him sympathetically. "Take it easy on Mada-kun. He may be a bit crabby but he's a good kid."

A blonde girl wearing a floral patterned dress clasped her hands together. "So when's the wedding?"

"You kids are too silly. Perhaps I shouldn't have given you all that candy." Sakura released Madara's shoulder and giggled into her hand. "But there's already someone…"

The children listened intently as her voice trailed off delicately.

"Ah, so you have a special someone in your life, I presume." Kuni grinned to Sakura's chagrin.

"Aiiieeee!" The girls squealed in unison. They crowded Sakura yet again clenching handfuls of her skirt as to prevent her evasion from their impending barrage of questions.

"Who is he?"

"What's his name?"

"C'mon, tell us more about him!"

Sakura waved her arms flustered by the inquisitive siege of young girls.

"Well…" She began as a rosy blush crept to the apples of her cheeks. "He's tall, strong, good-looking, and very cool…"

Madara wanted nothing more than to escape the strident squeals of the meddlesome young girls. Seeking to escape the annoying hoard of girls enclosing him, he retreated towards the back of the formation.

"I'd best be on my way now. I think I've had enough prying into my love life." Sakura gripped the door handle. "Goodbye, everyone! Thanks again, Kuni-baasama!"

Madara watched the door close obscuring any further view of her walking away. As the door clicked shut he realized that this time she was gone for good. Although he would now reside in the same village as her, they would now walk divergent paths forming a great distance between them. She would return to normalcy, spending her days in the village as she had once before—without him.

Now, he was just another child amongst the insufferable orphans at the institution. He would spend the rest of his childhood days here assimilating into the new culture of the household.

"It's story time, children." Kuni herded the children into the den.

And that notion repulsed him…

The children gathered inside the den clambering onto the sofa and scouting the large bookcase in search of an entertaining story.

"I'll go get dinner ready." The elderly woman embarked on a slow, shuffling endeavor towards the kitchen.

The children hustled past Madara climbing onto the shelves of the bookcase and crawling on the floor in search of what he figured were inconveniently located favorite books.

He drew the first book at random from a shelf at chest level. It was a dilapidated hardbound book titled "My Best Friend" authored by Senju Hashirama— a familiar name Sakura had mentioned when they entered the village.

He opened the cover prudently careful not to tear its withered pages. The sentences were short and concise in structure with large bolded font intended for the reading level of a newly learning child. He gazed at the illustrations for an extended period of time studying the simplistic caricatures of a boy with a bowl cut and a second boy with a head of spiky hair.

_This is my best friend. _

The first page read.

He skimmed the text flipping the delicate pages slowly.

_We met each other at the river. _

_My friend likes to skip stones._

_But I'm better than him at it. _

_And my stones are bigger than his. _

_We like to practice our jutsu._

_And we practice sword fighting._

_I'm also better than him in endurance. _

_We talk about all kinds of things._

_We also share our dreams for the future. _

_But one day, we learned we were enemies._

_I had to fight my best friend and—_

As Madara turned the page, something slipped from the pages of the book plunging to the floor at his feet.

He peeked down at the pages of magazine littering his feet. A provocatively flesh colored image seized his attention. He squatted recovering the magazine from the floor. Briefly scanning through the pages, he recognized that the magazine had, in fact, been a pornographic magazine.

"Hey, that's mine!" The oldest boy of the household snatched the magazine from Madara's fingers.

"You hid _that_ in the book?" Madara grimaced snapping the dilapidated book shut.

"Nobody here would read that book. It's old and stupid. No one wants to read a story about two boys who are like sisters." The boy shook his head.

"Huh?" Madara lifted a single brow confounded by the boy's esoteric words.

Taro injected himself into the conversation. "Don't you mean like brothers?"

"No, I meant what I said." The older boy answered assertively. He flipped through the pages of the magazine landing on the page of the featured pinup. "Whoa! Check out the twins on this girl!"

"Whoa! Those are huge! Do you think they're bigger than the Hokage's?" Taro exclaimed loudly provoking a harsh hiss from the other boy.

"Quiet! Kuni-baasama might hear you! Hey, Mina-chan, is the coast clear?" The older boy turned his attention to the pig-tailed girl sitting beside the doorway.

"All clear, Hideki-kun!" The girl slowly shut the door tactfully masking any trace of suspicion from the den.

Something urged Madara not to become a part of whatever impending plan the children conceived.

Utterly dumbfounded, he watched the children tear up the floorboards around him uncovering their hidden stash of indulgences. They distributed candy, snacks, and pornographic magazines amongst each other as if they had been contraband. The girls gathered around a makeup kit sampling an assortment of oils and powders.

"What kind of girls do you like, Mada-kun?" Hideki asked offering him a magazine. The boys skimmed through the magazine sorting through the catalogue of nude women.

Madara rejected the boy's offer estranging himself from the lustful activity. "Don't ask me stupid questions."

"Duh, he likes Sakura-san!" Taro interjected yet again.

Hideki waved his finger. "I guess she's pretty but she's as flat as a board! Nice butt though…really shows in those tights and that short skirt. I guess your taste is just ok. But her friend though! Have you seen the Yamanaka girl? Wow!"

"Don't involve me in this conversation!" Madara snarled rabidly drawing in laughter from the rest of the children.

"Why are you so critical of us girls, when you boys aren't anything special yourselves?" The oldest girl braided the long, blonde hair of the girl in the floral patterned dress.

"What are you talking about?! Of course I'm good-looking!" Hideki rose to his feet pointing to his chest.

The group of girls shook their heads in concert.

"Well, then. What do girls like?" Hideki folded his arms glaring down at the seated group of girls.

"First off, you're just a boy. Girls want a man. A really handsome man!" The oldest girl clasped her hands dreamily.

"Someone who is cool!" Mina added.

The blonde hair enjoying a hair styling session clenched her hands together pressing them against her cheeks. "Oh, he has to be strong. Like _really_ strong!"

"Who is romantic and full of surprises."

"Nothing would make a girl happier than a man sweeping her off her feet kissing her passionately on the lips like a prince in a fairytale."

The girls squealed amongst each other grating on Madara's nerves once again.

"Men like that don't exist! I'll show you a real man!" Hideki clasped his hands together kneading chakra throughout his body.

His body flickered for a moment vanishing behind a veil of smoke. The girls held their collective breaths anxiously awaiting the results of the transformation jutsu masked by the plume of smoke. The children sneered as the smoke unveiled a taller, scrawnier version of the boy bearing a wispy beard.

"No way! That's ugly!" The blonde stuck her tongue out disdainfully. "Your transformation jutsu sucks!"

Hideki released his jutsu resuming his normal appearance. He refuted her claim fervently. "I just need practice!"

"Whatever…" Mina rolled her eyes skeptical of his statement. "We should clean up before Kuni-baasama returns."

* * *

Madara followed Taro and Hideki on a brief trip to the market to retrieve groceries. The children often completed daily chores in teams of three. He reluctantly trailed the other two boys engaged in a conversation he wanted no part in.

"I'm telling you, they were as big as your head!" Hideki gestured widening the span of his arms.

"No way!" Taro denied lugging a small, red wagon containing groceries.

Madara stilled as he heard a masculine voice cry out a familiar name.

"Sakura-san! Sakura-san, wait up!"

He strayed from his companions peering around the corner of a street vendor obscuring himself from view.

A young male dressed in a green, spandex jumpsuit dashed toward the pink haired girl who had been carrying a stack of books beneath her arm.

"Lee-san?" Sakura glimpsed over her shoulder.

He doubled over before Sakura capturing a brief moment to catch his breath.

"Sakura-san…" He snapped upright like a springboard offering the girl a bouquet of flowers. "Please go on a date with me."

Was this the special someone she had previously mentioned? Was this the man whom Sakura envisioned when that captivating blush marked her cheeks?

He certainly boasted an odd appearance. His thick bushy eyebrows drifted over large, peculiar doll-like eyes. His hair had been styled in a bowl cut similar to that of the boy in the book he read the day prior.

Not only did he possess an unusual appearance, but he also seemed persistent and upfront with the girl. Unquestionably, an attribute no girl would deem "cool."

"I'm sorry, Lee-san, but I cannot accept this." Sakura lowered her head modestly denying his request.

"Hey, Bushy-Brow! Sakura's going on a date with me!" A blonde male pumped a fist against his chest as if initiating a brawl between primates.

"Naruto-kun…?" Sakura seemed astonished by his unanticipated appearance.

He was definitely more attractive looking than the former candidate. There was a very strong chakra radiating from this male which would have possibly satisfied her list of prerequisites.

Was it him? Was he the special someone in her life?

He listened carefully, absorbed in the meticulous details of their interaction.

"What?" Sakura's brow furrowed in an irritated manner. "I thought you were dating Hinata!"

The blonde laughed nervously scratching the back of his head. "Um…well…about that."

"You broke up with Hinata?!"

"Not exactly."

"I don't know what goes on in your head anymore!" The blonde cowed before the girl's overwhelming temper.

Judging by her sheer aggravation, this male was also not a likely candidate either. Madara urged himself to leave resigning himself from any further snooping. Her love affairs were not worthy of his concern. There was no justification for him to pry into her personal matter when she had already parted ways with him.

Another masculine voice spoke dispassionately.

"You're being too noisy."

Sakura's verdant green eyes assumed a crystalline appearance.

"Sasuke-kun…"

"Sakura…" A dark haired male entered the scene.

They locked eyes focusing on each other as if the rest of the world had vanished around them. In that moment, Madara knew—without a doubt—that this dark haired man was the very one who had seized her heart.

"Eh? Sasuke?!" The blonde stooped seemingly irked by his presence. "What are you doing here?"

"Is there a problem with me being here?" His voice was deep with a scathing undertone.

The blonde uttered beneath his breath. "It's just that…"

"Sasuke-kun, would you like to have dinner with me at Ichiraku's?" Sakura clasped her hands against her chest as if to stifle her thundering heartbeat.

The dark haired male shoved his hands into his pockets replying apathetically to her request. "I guess I have nothing better to do today."

Her eyes illuminated in a manner in which Madara had never borne witness to. He clenched his bottom lip firmly as her smile exuded a happiness that could freeze the world in its tracks and garner its undivided attention.

This smile was unlike the countless smiles he had seen from her during the course of their journey. A smile so sublime it undermined the precious moments he had shared with her to mere mediocrity.

Hideki suddenly jerked Madara's arm jarring him back to reality of his current affairs. "Hey, what are you doing?"

Madara resumed surveillance of the four teenagers disregarding Hideki's inquiry.

"I'm coming too!" The blonde hollered hastily inserting himself between Sakura and the dark haired male.

Her smile immediately flickered away like a flame deserting the wick of a candle.

"I'll always be ready for you when you reconsider." The strange bushy browed doll-eyed man bid his farewell walking away from the trio dejectedly.

"I think he's spying on Sakura-san." Taro answered.

"I wasn't…" Madara began his retort.

Hideki interrupted him peering off into the distance. "I bet if you had a really good set of eyes you could probably see underneath her clothes."

"You mean like the Byakugan?" Taro scratched the crown of his head.

"Yeah like the Byakugan! Those eyes are the best! I'll train really hard so I can get the Byakugan!"

Taro contorted his face. "I thought you have to be born with the Byakugan?"

"Shut up! I'll get them if I work hard enough!"

* * *

Madara splashed his face cupping handfuls of water from the washbasin in the bathroom. He touched the pads of his fingers to his cheeks gazing into his reflection in the mirror. That man Sakura fawned over seemed to bear a striking resemblance to him. He did possess the same shade of eye and hair color as Madara. The hair was alike in style and texture as well. He almost could've been a distant relative of his. Almost.

Dismissing that idea from the brim of his mind, he contemplated how he would appear in his adulthood.

He figured it couldn't hurt to attempt the same jutsu the children had experimented with.

He quickly strung a sequence of hand seals together and clapped his hands together kneading chakra throughout his entire body to shape his new form. A wispy plume of smoke occupied the bathroom slowly phasing through the grill of the vent. A tall, brawny adult gazed back at him in the mirror possessing a long mane of raven hair. Brushing away the bangs framing the right side of his face, he studied the deep creases lining his lower eyelids. His fingers combed through his locks admiring the luscious volume of hair he would appreciate having in the future.

Frankly, he appeared far more attractive than the man Sakura loved.

Would Sakura think so too?

He released the transformation jutsu resuming his typical appearance.

It was a stupid thought—a notion that was far beneath his level of maturity.

She would never discard her love for Sasuke simply because he could use a transformation jutsu to appear older.

Those precocious orphans had indisputably corrupted him with their perverted antics.

Sakura had gone on with her life and terminated any further relationship with him. He was no longer a part of her world thus she should no longer remain a part of his.

But no matter how many times he reminded himself he still could not completely rationalize it.

She promised to visit indicating that she had not completely severed ties with him.

But what if she forgot? What if she became so immersed in her daily life she never visited?

No, that was not plausible. The children spoke of Sakura as if she had been a frequent visitor.

But what if she became so rapt with Sasuke she abandoned her duties and did forget him?

What had Sasuke done to merit her utmost affection? He treated her with indifference in spite of the arrangement to attend dinner with her.

Why did she only smile that way around him?

He thrust the bathroom door open forcefully and headed out the back door.

"Mada-kun?" Taro watched him slide out the back door and slip on his sandals.

He figured a brief stroll around the village would help soothe his troubled mind. Touring the streets away from the institution, his leisurely stroll had in fact successfully eased the noxious thoughts afflicting his mind.

There were far more important things to concern himself over beyond the girl. Her bearing was on the bottommost end of the spectrum of his priorities. She was merely a medic who nursed him to health and helped find him refuge. He was just another patient to her like the rest of the orphans who adored her.

That was all.

The concept of detachment granted him an equable state of mind. With a renewed sense of relief, he could return to the institution without qualm.

As he rounded the block, he spotted the back of a familiar crimson shirt peeking from behind the banner of a ramen stand. Sakura had been seated on a bar stool sandwiched in between the two males from earlier. She leaned against Sasuke's off-white shirt adorned with a fan-like emblem near the collar.

"Sasuke-kun!" Her voice chirped above the dull murmur of the ramen stand.

Promptly, a flare ignited within Madara's gut, no longer capable of dousing his sweltering thoughts with rationality. He concealed himself within the darkness of an alleyway watching the trio depart the ramen stand. His reassurance withered into ashes as he observed the girl clinging to the boy's arm in a similar fashion a child would with its mother.

"Sakura, stop clinging to me. Would you mind backing off?" Sasuke elevated his elbow ejecting the girl from his personal space.

She planted her feet firmly in place drooping her head in a downcast manner, her eyes glossed in a coat of tears.

Madara clenched his lower lip and weaved a series of hand signs donning a new appearance.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun…It's just that…" She fumbled for her words choking back her tears.

Naruto and Sasuke spun around synchronously facing the crestfallen girl forcing herself to swallow the hurt in order to speak audibly. Their eyes enlarged in unison absolutely horrorstricken by the ominous figure cast behind the oblivious Sakura like a shadow.

"During the war, I realized how truly short life is…I guess I'm afraid to lose you again…I…" She lifted her gaze, mystified by the horrified visages of her teammates. The color drained from their faces in an eerily harmonious manner. The last time she recalled witnessing their flesh assume the same ghastly pale color had been during the war—in the desperate moments they lingered together on the brink of death. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Sakura…" A deep voice uttered from behind her.

It was that vile voice she had expelled from the stock of her auditory memories. A voice she never sought to hear again whether real or imagined.

Uchiha Madara stood closely behind her. Wordlessly, he loomed toward her like the grim reaper harvesting a new soul for a voyage to the underworld. He draped his arm around her forcing her up against his body. She screamed internally urging her body to do anything and everything to escape his hold merely to discover her efforts rendered futile by her disobediently flaccid muscles. He held her face in his hands as though she had been diminished to a measly doll in his presence and firmly planted his lips on hers.

* * *

_A/N: You know the drill. Thanks for reading and please review! I guess this chapter ended up being longer than I anticipated but I didn't really feel like dividing it into two. I wonder if anyone will catch all of the Hashimada euphemisms in this chapter. I suppose even the (non-Japanese) meaning of Kuni's name is not all too innocent. Haha!_


	5. Resolve

Naruto and Sasuke remained motionless, their mouths gaping open in horror as they watched Madara's lips separate from Sakura's. Her glazed, lifeless eyes remained wide open without blinking or focusing on anything specific. Her motor functions arrested rendering her completely unresponsive to stimuli or sensation as though her soul had vacated her body. He held her limp body upright which had felt more heavily weighted due to her tonically immobilized state.

He furrowed his brow unsure as to why the girl had suddenly fallen into trance-like state and if she would ever awaken from it.

Sasuke lunged for Madara first drawing his sword in a swift crescent motion. Madara danced backward dodging a swift swipe from Sasuke's sword. Sakura's body crumbled to the ground as Madara released her redirecting his focus to the two boys attacking him.

"I'll send you to hell!" Sasuke snarled brandishing his sword wildly.

Madara weaved through Sasuke's strikes effortlessly having activated his Sharingan to trace the pattern of his movements.

Naruto clutched a revolving blue orb of chakra within the palm of his hand. "Why won't you just die!"

Madara leapt in the air escaping the wrath of the blonde's orb of chakra. Naruto plummeted forward planting his attack straight into the ground. Madara observed the blue orb tear up the concrete street creating a crater within the pavement as it expanded in diameter.

He recognized that the attack could have potentially killed him if it had made contact. These boys clearly intended to make a serious attempt on his life.

Madara folded his arms speaking scornfully to his assailants. "You're overreacting."

"This time, I won't miss!" Naruto howled preparing yet another orb of chakra within the palm of his hand.

Sasuke seized the collar of his jacket prompting the orb to dissipate in Naruto's hand. "Are you stupid?! He'll just absorb your attack with the Rinnegan!"

"Rinnegan…?" Madara repeated to himself inaudibly distancing himself from the two boys.

A crowd of civilians suddenly dispersed screaming and shouting in pure terror as if a colossal monster had rampaged through the village. Madara's eyes shifted back and forth catching indiscriminate glimpses of individuals amongst the fleeing crowd of civilians. A mother clutched her infant firmly against her bosom as tears streaked her face. She hyperventilated frantically as she had been downed by a twisted ankle.

"Somebody help! Please at least save my baby!" He heard the mother's desperate voice cry piercing through the screams of the masses.

A young kunoichi bowed her head in deep concentration, murmuring beneath her breath with a rosary in hand.

An elderly man's voice hollered repetitively. "We're doomed! We're all doomed!"

The subsequent words he could discern from the crowd's screams nearly caused him to flinch.

"It's Madara! Uchiha Madara is back!"

He watched the crowd continue to disperse oblivious as to why he had been deemed a source of terror to a village he had never previously visited. No matter where he frequented it seemed everyone was primed to kill him for some undisclosed reason. It was as though he were a disease plaguing humanity with his very presence.

"I'll send you back to the grave where you belong—rotting in the ground!" Naruto's body suddenly transformed acquiring a golden shroud of chakra styled in the form of a cloak. The power of his chakra intensified tremendously in his new form as though he had ascended higher plane of existence.

Madara's eyes narrowed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He circumvented an arm-shaped formation of golden chakra plunging toward him. The arm of chakra extended past him careening into the face of the building behind him. Naruto's golden chakra illuminated through the veil of debris cast by the demolition of the building. As the cloud of debris dissolved, a sudden swarm of shinobi appeared behind Naruto and Sasuke prepared to support them.

"We may not have all of the Shinobi Alliance here but we'll still kick your ass!" Naruto bellowed boldly.

Madara's patience quickly dwindled as the barrage of shinobi honed in on him. The boys' cryptic statements began to convert his confusion into sheer exasperation.

If these shinobi were so intent on slaying him then he would simply annihilate them like the all of the others.

He clasped his hands together and inhaled deeply expanding his cheeks. He expelled a large plume of ash spanning a wide area. The wall of ash struck the mass of shinobi scattering them in various directions. Naruto rose to his hands and knees surveying the widespread damage dealt by Madara's jutsu. Numerous shinobi littered the ground screaming and writhing in agony as their skin had become enveloped in burns.

"Shit! We're too late!" Naruto heard Kakashi call out from behind the formation.

Gai and Sai lagged behind his mentor assessing the situation in progress.

"This is bad…" Kakashi crouched down helping Naruto to his feet. "Are you alright?"

Sasuke rejected Sai's help crawling back to his feet on his own. He brushed the dirt from his clothes and peeled away the charred fabric. "He's still alive! That bastard is still alive!"

"How?" Sai inquired glancing back toward the epicenter of chaos.

"I don't know but it doesn't appear to be the Edo Tensei." Sasuke answered before dashing back into the front lines of battle once again.

"We're going to need medical aid fast. Where's Sakura?" Kakashi asked scouting the site for any hint of her distinct pink hair.

He spotted her several yards away from the site of battle seated on her knees. Sai followed Kakashi as he rushed to her side.

"Sakura! Sakura!" Kakashi called out to her as she sat hunched over her hands barely supporting herself upright.

Her eyes appeared glazed as she stared vacantly into space. Her entire body trembled vigorously remaining unresponsive to the sound of her mentor's voice.

"Is she under genjutsu?" Sai glanced to his superior.

Utilizing his Sharingan, Kakashi scrutinized the girl's chakra networks briefly. He shook his head detecting no disruptions to her chakra. "No, she's not."

"What happened to her?"

"I don't know. Take her somewhere safe. We'll just have to wait for the Hokage to arrive."

Sai scooped the catatonic girl into his arms and watched Kakashi and Gai spring into battle. He paced back and forth searching for a route of escape from the pandemonium. A powerful shockwave pitched him off his feet flinging both him and his incapacitated teammate. Her body tumbled away from him disappearing into the many scurrying feet of panicking civilians.

The ethereal blue creature shielded Madara from suffering damage as the small team of shinobi attacked him simultaneously. Gai repeatedly kicked the ribcage of his Susanoo unable to penetrate the solid construct of chakra. The Susanoo thread a trio of magatama in its hand and cast it towards Gai. Gai struggled to outrun the attack as it followed his course of direction. The thread of magatama suddenly vanished just barely coming in contact with the taijutsu expert.

"Ah, thanks Kakashi." Gai heaved a grateful sigh of relief.

Kakashi released his hand from covering his left eye as he had become fatigued by the taxing space-time ninjutsu. "I don't think I can keep up with this any longer."

"Don't give up on me already, Kakashi. We're still young!" Gai roared fervently returning to his persistent assault.

Madara's Susanoo clashed with Sasuke's Susanoo outmatching Sasuke in brute strength and power. Naruto pressed the palms of his hands flat against the ground sending chakra beneath the surface.

"Get ready! I'm going to pull him out of the Susanoo!" Naruto informed his teammate.

Sasuke's Susanoo drew an arrow back creating tension within the bow taking aim for an attack. A pair of chakra instilled arms emerged from beneath Madara seizing his body. The arm wrenched him the security of his Susanoo as Sasuke released the arrow.

Madara squeezed his eyelids shut feeling his eyes suddenly assume a new form. He felt his body surge with new founded power bestowed upon him by the heightened acuity of his eyes.

The arrow collided with him melding into his body instead of dealing damage. He recovered to his feet completely unscathed by the tag-team effort.

"Damn it! I knew that was going to happen!" Naruto slammed his fist into the hard pavement.

"I knew he was holding back! He's just been toying with us this whole time!" Sasuke watched Madara touch his eyes intriguingly as if the Rinnegan had been something new to him. For some unknown reason, the very sight sickened Sasuke. "We can't hope to win again without the former Hokage."

"I can't believe it! Why the hell is he still alive?!" Tsunade bit the tip of her finger drawing a droplet of blood. She pressed her hand into the ground summoning the massive slug to the site of battle.

Shizune rested her hand on Sakura's forehead inspecting the unresponsive girl for any source of injury. "Sakura, are you alright?"

The massive slug divided into several miniature versions and dispersed heading to the aid of every injured shinobi and civilian.

Madara held out his hand as Naruto and Sasuke charged toward him yet again.

"Crap!" Naruto cursed as he recognized the forthcoming jutsu yet to be cast.

A massive repulsive force buffeted Naruto and Sasuke sending a powerful shockwave rippling throughout the entire village. The force of the blast ripped Sasuke out of the shell of his Susanoo causing the ethereal chakra being to wither away without its caster.

Sakura's body had been propelled backward sending her into a mass of debris. Her head collided with a concrete structure rattling her from her stupor. She sat up evaluating the scene befallen her merely to determine that no one remained standing. Tears streamed from her eyes as she gazed upon the mass of downed shinobi and civilians strewn across the ground. She reminisced of the similar horror that had transpired when the God Tree had sapped the chakra of the Shinobi Alliance.

She spotted an electric blue monster in the distance approach one of the downed bodies with a sword constructed from chakra in hand.

"Sasuke-kun!" She screamed frantically hoping to rouse her downed teammate back to his feet.

She buckled to her knees overwhelmed by the compelling urge to break down sobbing. What could she do? Once again Uchiha Madara was about to slaughter her comrades and all she could do was sit there and cry.

She had vowed to protect those dear to her. Years ago, she had taken apprenticeship under Tsunade in order to attain more strength for that very notion. She worked so hard to perfect her chakra control, to learn medical ninjutsu, to augment her strength, to become a more effective fighter, to be a better kunoichi.

She had let her fear render her catatonic…

She let her fear to reduce her to a sniveling mess of tears…

She let her fear render her absolutely useless…

But this time…

She clasped her hands together releasing the Byakugou Seal. The purple seal extended across her body marking her skin in an interweaving pattern of lines.

This time she would honor her vow and fight until the very end. She would exhaust her power to protect her friends even if it cost her life—again.

She bolted towards her downed friends bounding over the burned and unconscious bodies littering the ground. Sasuke rose to his feet taken aghast by the tip of the reformed Susanoo's chakra sword aimed for his chest.

"**I'm done playing with you.**" Madara uttered callously, his voice possessing an almost childlike undertone.

As he thrust the blade, he heard the unforeseen cry of a feminine voice. Sasuke's off white shirt had been stained in blood that did not belong to him. Sakura stood before him receiving the lethal blow in his stead. She screamed in agony as the sword penetrated her abdomen exiting through her back. Despite the regenerative capabilities of her jutsu, it did not numb her to the pain. Blood seeped from the corners of her mouth trickling down to the edges of her chin. She grasped the blade of the chakra sword firmly unwilling to let him drive it further her body.

Sasuke gazed past Sakura's shoulder noticing the abnormal expression worn on Madara's face. He appeared distraught—genuinely distraught—for reasons Sasuke could not possibly grasp. He felt as though he suffered a brief disconnect from reality unsure of what had been occurring anymore.

Why?

After all of the hatred and destruction…Why did he make that face now?

What the hell was going on?

Sakura jerked the sword from the Susanoo's hand astonished by lack of force required to disarm it. She sprang toward the shell of the Susanoo drawing a chakra laden fist back past her hip. Her fist struck the solid exterior of the chakra construct with incredible force. A vein patterned crack formed around her fist rapidly spreading throughout the shell of Susanoo with each passing second.

She glanced up at the immense structure suddenly crumbling down upon her. To her relief, the shell dissipated as it rained down until the blue monster begun to disappear like a passing nightmare. The sword in her abdomen disintegrated enabling her flesh to restore the damage it had inflicted.

As the blue chakra completely vanished, Sakura spotted the raven haired boy kneeling on the ground.

"Mada-kun?!" She exclaimed loudly dropping down to his side. The realization struck her with unmercifully brute force. Her lips quivered hardly capable of delivering her words. "…Why?"

His eyes fell towards the ground. She was barely able to capture the faint words muttered under his breath. "….wanted to see you happy…"

* * *

_A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing! I certainly enjoy tormenting you all with awful cliffhangers. Mwahaha!_


	6. Mercy

_A/N: Now that midterms and validations are over with…back to the story!_

* * *

"I don't understand…" Sakura murmured inaudibly to herself. Her eyes widened in sheer disbelief unable to clearly focus on the boy kneeling before her.

He lifted his head noting the quivering gloss in her vivid jade orbs. Despite her eyes tracking in his direction it seemed as though she did not see him. Her incisors clenched her bottom lip firmly stifling her from uttering another word. Her body had still been enveloped in the interlacing pattern of black lines originating from the purple rhombus that had previously marked her forehead.

She touched her fingers to her face prodding her skin as if to assess her own level of consciousness. Her mind could not properly register the validity of the events transpiring before her.

Madara's brow furrowed awaiting any further response from her.

Why wouldn't she say anything to him?

Sakura's shoulders tensed upon hearing the grating sound of metal sliding forcefully against a holster. Madara and Sakura turned their gazes in unison to the vengeful male towering over them. Sasuke had unsheathed his sword loudly as possible asserting his display of hostility. His arm descended aiming the tip of his blade for the young boy's chest. Madara gazed past the length of the blade sighting the star shaped design of Sasuke's Sharingan illuminating from beyond the veil of darkness cast by his bangs.

"I'll end you here and now." His tone resonated in a dangerously cold manner.

Madara glared at Sasuke for a moment unaffected by his display of hostility. Of the countless shinobi who had pursued him, threatened him, attacked him he had slaughtered them without paying any thought of what he had felt toward them. They had all been beneath any merit of malice. Hatred was not compulsory to dispose of vermin.

But this boy—who mirrored his own appearance and possessed the very same eyes—warranted his complete and undivided hatred.

His eyes narrowed answering Sasuke's threat with matched enmity. A crimson hue washed through his irises priming him for an immediate kill.

"Stop it!" Sakura sprang to her feet interjecting herself between them with remarkable speed. In spite of the desperation of her cry, her eyes were rife with fierceness.

She stood in between the two Uchiha breaking the deadly link of two Sharingan locked in battle. Her emerald eyes met Sasuke's Sharingan reluctant to concede despite knowing full well her powerlessness in engaging in a staring match.

"Stand down." Sasuke demanded refusing to lower his blade despite Sakura obscuring his target.

"Please…stop this." Her voice wavered contrary to the defiance in her eyes.

Sasuke's gaze dropped to the boy kneeling beyond her catching the hateful glare still worn on his face. There was no mistaking it. Sasuke had been very much acclimated to that vileness presently masked by the innocence of a child's face.

Sasuke hissed through his teeth. "Why do you protect him?"

"It's not him! He's not Uchiha Madara!" Sakura cried out, her vocal cords raw from having strained them so frequently in a brief period of time.

Madara flinched as her cries jolted him like a current of electricity.

"It's not him! It's not him!" She repeated vehemently. Her assertion suddenly formed to pleas with each repetition.

"Sakura!" Sasuke roared above her blathering. "Do you hear yourself?!"

Sakura halted her tongue creating a transient moment of silence. Her eyes followed Sasuke's finger pointing harshly at the subject behind her.

"His eyes…" Sasuke began. Madara's eyes widened as the pair gazed down upon him although he preserved his wariness of Sasuke. "His eyes are real!"

Sakura's face blanched upon noticing the intricate patterning of his eyes—a circular design of overlapping tomoe with three straight lines branching out towards the rim of the iris.

"That is _his_ Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. He was also able to use the Rinnegan against us as well." Sasuke's voice descended gravely. "But, I'm not fooled by his childlike appearance. The only one who possesses that kind of power is none other than Uchiha Madara himself."

Sakura remained motionless though Sasuke could detect the pensiveness behind her eyes processing the heavy weight of his words. She swallowed uncomfortably as if forcing a large stone down her esophagus. A single tear escaped from the basin of her eyelid racing down the slope of her cheek. She brushed her fingertips across her cheek smearing the tear to rid of its existence. Her hand reached for her opposite eye dabbing the tears with her finger pads.

A whimper escaped her throat as she frantically attempted to wipe away the sudden barrage of tears fleeing her eyes. She buried her face in her hands no longer capable of curbing her grief. Her knees quivered violently barely supporting her stance.

Sasuke's eyes darted to Sakura, unaffected by her anguished sobbing, then back to young boy still kneeling on the ground. Madara's face suddenly softened simultaneously concerned and befuddled by the girl's distraught sobbing.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed scrutinizing the boy's unusual expression. He had sported a similar expression upon stabbing Sakura with the sword of Susanoo. It was unmistaken. All evidence had supported his identity as Uchiha Madara except for one significantly belying outlier—Sakura.

Evidently, Sakura and Madara had somehow become acquainted. The girl had a pronounced soft spot for children often volunteering her medical services to the local orphanage. Had she mistaken him for a patient? It seemed Sakura had been unaware of his identity evidenced by her dismay upon learning of this revelation. How close had she become with the boy to merit this level of grief?

Moreover, how close had he grown toward Sakura?

For whatever reason, he had undertaken his adult appearance and kissed her denoting that his feelings for her may have been beyond—_well beyond_—that of acquaintanceship.

The very thought enraged him to the point of sickness.

"Why? Why do you cry?" Madara asked firmly yet with a curious inflection.

"You honestly don't know why?!" Sasuke snarled suddenly resigning his stoicism. The boy did not seem remotely cognizant of the absurdity of his inquiry further fueling Sasuke's rage. "After everything you…"

"Don't!" Sakura screamed her words truncating his sentence before he could reveal anything detrimental. "Don't say anything!"

Sasuke and Madara snapped their heads toward her as she shook her head fervently.

"He doesn't remember anything!" She pleaded desperately with her comrade hoping to persuade him to hold his tongue. "So…please…just don't."

Sasuke's eyes widened incredulously before narrowing broodingly. He fixed his gaze to the young Uchiha boy whose bemusement suddenly turned to resentment.

Madara scowled exhibiting his antipathy toward all of the secrecy surrounding him. He demanded to know just what they were hiding from him. Apparently they possessed the knowledge to fill in his absent memories. He would force them to reveal everything they knew about his name, his past, his identity.

"Enough with the secrecy! I want to know just who I am!" He roared snapping up to his feet swiftly. "Why do people fear my name? What is my past? Tell me!"

Sakura shook her head thwarting any opportunity for Sasuke to speak. "It doesn't matter…"

"It does matter!" Madara protested heatedly.

Sakura said nothing casting Sasuke a cautionary glare as to not utter another word.

* * *

Madara sat on the edge of a bed in a small quaint room unsure of where he currently was. The room was largely empty barring a dresser beside the bed and a large analogue clock hanging on the ceiling.

Sakura had drawn his blood and swabbed the inside of his cheek stating she would run a few quick tests to ensure he was healthy. Judging by her forced smile and quivering hands unable to steady a syringe he deemed it was a lie. She had instructed him to wait within the room and vowed to return soon. Two hours had already passed since her declaration and he was uncertain as to what "soon" had meant in terms of quantifiable time.

Tsunade had called Sakura back into the laboratory in order to read the results of the tests they had instigated. Sakura unplugged the gel electrophoresis apparatus studying the agarose for clarity in the readings.

Tsunade hovered over her shoulder comparing the array of bands to the control she had instilled on the outermost lane of the gel.

"It's a complete match." Tsunade concluded.

Sakura's eyes fell in a downcast manner. There may have been a distinct margin of error in Sasuke's theory but the biological evidence only confirmed his claim.

"As I suspected, he also possesses my grandfather's, Hashirama's, DNA as well." Tsunade compared the bands to a secondary control. "However…"

Sakura listened intently as Tsunade's voice trailed off into deep concentration.

"When I further inspected the quality of his DNA I noticed that the telomeres are remarkably short indicating that the DNA has undergone far more replications than normal for his apparent age. This means that…"

"He's a clone." Sakura finished her mentor's sentence.

Tsunade nodded affirmatively. "The somatic cells you collected from his skin are consistent with that of a child. Someone was diligent in resurrecting Madara's exact powers in the form of a child."

"Who?" Sakura asked glancing down at the array of bands in the gel. "Who would resurrect Uchiha Madara again?"

There was only one individual and his subordinate with a propensity for disturbing the dead who held no qualms over unethical experimentation.

"Orochimaru."

Sakura was unsure as to why Tsunade's response surprised her. Orochimaru was notorious for performing highly immoral experiments on innocent subjects. Her own previous mentor, Yamato, had been the unwilling subject of Orochimaru's ploy to recreate Hashirama's powers. However, Yamato was not a clone of Hashirama and was a distinct individual who had Hashirama's DNA infused into him.

But this child was Uchiha Madara both in flesh and blood—the only missing component being his memories.

How did Sakura not notice?

No…

The question was rather why did Sakura not notice?

It was not coincidence that he shared the same name as Madara. He had managed to take out the gang of rogue-nin himself. A feat no orphaned child could possibly accomplish without access to extraordinary power. His words had even evoked the horrifying memories of Madara she had repressed following the conclusion of the war.

But even then she still could not have surmised that he was Madara. She had not witnessed any nuance of behavior that would have indicated that he was the same Madara who had caused so many calamities in the shinobi world.

It was an honest mistake.

She recalled rescuing the boy from a band of Sound nin that she now deduced had been dispatched to recover the subject who had likely escaped from Orochimaru's laboratory. The child was sick, wounded, and malnourished. There was no conceivable way she would've enabled a child to suffer under her watch.

However, she brought that child with her to Konoha and now many innocent shinobi and civilians are suffering the repercussions of his wrath. She had made a well-intentioned but grave error and she was ultimately the one responsible for all of the destruction.

If she knew he was Madara should she have let him die instead or should she have killed him herself?

What would've happened if she had never intervened in the first place? Would calamity ensue regardless?

"Tsunade-sama…what do we do?" She asked hesitantly.

Tsunade sighed rubbing her temples to assuage her frustration. "I do not know. I need more time to form a plan of action."

The fact that Orochimaru harnessed the power to create a perfect replica of a human through unknown means sent a powerful wave of nausea to Sakura's gut. Just how efficient were his methods? Were there more clones of Uchiha Madara out there?

"If he is a clone then that means he may not possess the same personality as the original." Sakura's tone ascended with a hint of optimism.

"No, that's not possible." Tsunade shook her head.

"Why not?"

"A clone cannot be animated without a portion of the original's soul. Even the Zetsu clones born of my grandfather's DNA were bestowed a portion of his soul in order to animate them. The clone of my grandfather Madara had grown within the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was devoid a soul and therefore non-sentient." Tsunade witnessed the palpable disappointment gracing the girl's face. "Despite the fact that he is currently unaware of his identity, he still possesses the hatred and destructive power of the original Madara. I'm afraid this is something we may never be able to quell. Even as he is now, he has already dealt a great deal of damage to village and will very well destroy it."

Tsunade drew up a bright pink solution into a large syringe. She capped the needle and laid the syringe in the palm of Sakura's hand.

Sakura's bright green orbs enlarged recognizing distinctive hue of the solution. "Tsunade-sama…this is…"

"We may be safe as long as he does not recover his memories…however…" Tsunade's face hardened grimly as she curled Sakura's fingers around the barrel of the syringe. "None of the medics here dare approach him and he seems to trust in you. Should the circumstances necessitate such measures, I trust you to administer it quickly and quietly."

* * *

Madara watched the hand of the clock slowly drag toward the next minute and hopped off the bed no longer bearing the patience to await her return. He would leave the room and seek out Sakura himself. There were likely guards outside the door stationed to prevent his escape though he could easily eliminate them should they stand in his way.

As he neared the exit, he heard the thud of something heavy hitting the floor. He continued hearing multiple thuds from beyond the door curious as to what was occurring outside the room. Pulling the door open forcefully, he gazed down the long length of the hallway littered with the bodies of several guards. A pair of red glowing eyes swiftly honed in on him brandishing a sword belligerently. He activated his Sharingan in response evading the thrust of the intruder's blade.

Madara and Sasuke circled each other locking their Sharingan in a battle of ocular fortitude.

"Why do you have the same eyes as me?" Madara inquired.

"We are from the same clan—the Uchiha clan." Sasuke answered flatly gauging an opening for an attack.

Madara's eyes traced Sasuke's movements enabling him to circumvent the edge of his blade. The Uchiha clan? Though he was unfamiliar with the clan itself it did explain his opponent's strikingly similar appearance and ocular power.

"Where is Sakura?" He demanded urgently.

A deep furrow formed between Sasuke's eyebrows. "Why do you care for her?"

"Everyone loathes me! Everyone I come across seeks my death! But Sakura was the only one who cared for me. She is the only one who treats me kindly."

Sasuke suddenly flashed him a contemptuous smirk. "Her kindness towards you was merely a fluke because she was unaware of your identity. Had she known your identity she would've never cared for you."

Madara's scowl deepened, seething from his opponent's venomous smirk.

Sasuke continued speaking pleased to notice that he had successfully dealt a blow to his adversary's weak spot. "Your concern for her is absolutely repulsive. Sakura may be a compassionate person but you don't deserve her kindness because you were the one responsible for her death!"

"Her death…?" Madara parroted faintly.

"During the Shinobi World War, you extracted the Kyuubi from Naruto bringing him to the verge of death. After receiving chakra from Hashirama, I set after you and you stabbed me with my own sword nearly taking my life! Orochimaru and my former team managed to revive me but nothing could be done to save Naruto after your subordinate stole the other half of the Kyuubi eliminating his only hope of survival. With no other options remaining, Sakura sacrificed her own life to revive Naruto. You mocked her and you mocked us in our grief but we swore vengeance for our fallen teammate giving us the strength to finally defeat you! The only reason she is alive now is due to your other subordinate restoring her life via Rinne Tensei!"

Madara opened his mouth but said nothing, completely floored by Sasuke's words.

* * *

_A/N: Yup, you can always count on Sasuke to stir up drama in my fanfics. The ironic thing is that Sasusaku is my OTP yet I find the fanfics to be terribly trite. I dunno. I just think they've been exhausted to death. And that's why I write crack. ;) Thanks for reading and please review!  
_


	7. Flooding

_A/N: I meant to have this chapter out sooner. I apologize for the delay. Anyway, back to the story!_

* * *

Sakura gazed down at the neon pink liquid contained within the barrel of the syringe. She said nothing as her mentor ambled toward the counter to organize her scattered stack of notes. Her fingers unraveled from the thick plastic tubing unsure of how to proceed.

Tsunade affirmed that the boy had already succumbed to the hatred indicative of the original Madara. The boy killed indiscriminately without a shred of remorse and would have taken Sasuke's life had Sakura not taken the fatal blow in his stead. He harnessed the power to completely decimate the village without expending great effort. Although he lacked his past memories, the damage had already been done.

The villagers of Konoha would be plagued by terror as long as he remained alive.

Was Tsunade's assertion truly accurate? Had Madara completely succumbed to the hatred of his original? Was there any hope of salvaging the boy from the abyss of hatred?

Sakura reminisced of the time she had spent with the boy during the course of their journey. Despite his cranky disposition, the boy had not exhibited any malicious behavior towards her. He had demonstrated qualities of candidness apologizing to her after doubting her medical expertise. He had deserted his caregivers back in Hinode in order to follow the sole person he trusted. At the Naka River, he played with her in the water sharing a bout of mirthful laughter with her.

He wasn't completely lost to the hatred, was he?

Hatred was something the original Madara had acquired through countless years of grief and misfortune. However, the boy lacked the memories to acquire the same hatred as the original. Or was it something inherent to Madara's soul?

She figured it couldn't have strictly been an inherent influence. Despite possessing the original's soul, he behaved in a manner vastly divergent from the Madara she had known in the war.

He had assumed the form of his adult self and stolen her very first kiss.

But why had he acted in such a manner? What in the world compelled the child to do something so senseless and traumatizing?

She glanced back down to the syringe in her hand captivated by the potent capabilities of the bright pink solution. The injection was reserved as a last resort but it also harbored the potential as a prophylactic measure to prevent further calamity.

However, she could not fathom employing medicine to take the life of a confused and misguided child who was unaware of his prior history of destruction. In order to administer the injection it would entail betraying the trust he had placed in her.

He depended on her to do him no harm.

Suddenly, vivid imagery of the carnage on the battlefield inundated her mind quashing her considerations of nonmaleficence. The pungent scent of blood and smoke overwhelmed her nares and traveled down the palate of her mouth. She heard Madara's vile voice mocking her desperate effort to keep Naruto alive.

"_It doesn't matter what you do. He's going to die anyway..."_

Her fingers firmly gripped the barrel of the syringe as her face flushed with blistering heat.

What if he did manage to recover his memories? Then there would be absolutely no hope of salvaging the boy from his diabolical fate.

If she did not administer the injection she would run the risk of him destroying the village. She could not bear the responsibility of incurring another disaster to her homeland and its denizens. Surely, the horrors of the Fourth Shinobi World War would repeat all over again should she enable him to continue living.

But how could she even face the boy now with her knowledge of his identity? If he inquired about the contents of the syringe she would be forced to deceive him as to not reveal her lethal intentions.

Even if she were forced to administer the injection, she could not manage to steady her hands in order to perform something as simple as drawing blood. What if she missed his vein? Administering the solution outside the bloodstream would certainly cause him a tremendous amount of pain and compromise the efficacy of the drug. The constituents of the lethal cocktail would sting unmercifully if she missed her target. Could she stand to witness the boy screaming in agony and convulsing violently for minutes until he finally submitted to his death?

There was also the risk of him discovering her traitorous intentions. The situation could rapidly escalate to violence before she could receive the opportunity to administer the injection.

She heaved a forceful sigh unable to decide on a course of action. The situation did not prove to hold a lucid or definitive solution.

What should she do? What was the right answer?

No matter how she tried to rationalize it, there truly was no plausible solution that would benefit the boy and the village concurrently.

Whatever option she should choose, the outcome would undoubtedly ensure her to become wracked with guilt.

She pocketed the syringe reluctant to continue handling the object further exacerbating her emotional fatigue.

Sakura suddenly clutched the side of the counter in an effort to maintain her balance as a large tremor jolted the building. A beaker on the counter tipped over spilling its contents on the surface of the counter. She crouched down instinctively snapping her arms up to shield her head from stray objects plummeting from the shelving above her. Tsunade froze stock still awaiting the opportunity to safely move when the quaking ceased. As the tremors ended, Sakura quickly cast her gaze to Tsunade expecting her mentor to explain the source of the quaking.

"What was that?!" Sakura exclaimed carefully lifting herself back to her feet.

"It sounds like it came from downstairs. Let's go!" Tsunade bolted towards the exit.

Sakura trailed her mentor compliantly as they rapidly descended the staircase towards the basement.

Sasuke grunted as his body had been cast into the side of the wall. He slid down the side of the wall just barely maintaining consciousness as the force of impact jarred his skull.

"Liar!" Madara roared aiming the palm of his hand toward his opponent. His eyes possessed a pattern of concentric circles illuminating the regal purple hue characteristic of the Rinnegan.

"Call me a liar if it makes you feel better but what I've told you is the truth!" Sasuke hissed crawling back up the wall to his feet. "Why do you suppose the whole world despises you?"

"How should I know? I don't remember!" Madara retorted fervently preparing to deliver Sasuke another blow.

"The world despises you because you're the bane of its existence! You've caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people! Even your own clan—the clan you were once the leader of—and the village—the very village you co-founded…they all despise you! They all curse the name Uchiha Madara!"

Madara gnashed his teeth as he reminisced of the moment he exchanged names with Sakura during their greeting.

"_Can I call you Mada-kun instead?"_

He fancied her forced smile curbing her tongue from uttering his true name.

Was this the reason she reason she refused to speak his name and had bequeathed him a nickname as an alternative? She had been palpably distressed by the mere utterance of his name and refused to give him an answer when he had questioned her as to why she was perturbed by it. When introducing him to others, she introduced him only by her given nickname diligently avoiding the use of his true name. Now having learned the origin of the stigma attached to his name, he finally understood the intent behind Sakura's actions.

Sasuke smirked darkly relishing the palpable bewilderment in the young boy's face. He figured his shocking words would manage to effectively cripple his opponent enabling him the perfect moment to deal the finishing blow.

Sasuke towered over the boy diminishing him beneath his tall stature. He menacingly cast his gaze down upon the boy derisively emulating the mannerisms of his original. "You seem to care deeply for Sakura but do you remember what you said when she died?"

"Shut up!" Madara thundered seizing his throbbing cranium.

Flashes of incoherent imagery suddenly flooded his mind distorting his vision and disengaging him from the present reality. Thousands of voices spoke within his head simultaneously amalgamating into a dulled murmur. Occasionally, he could discern the piercing sounds of screams rising above the conundrum of murmurs.

What was happening?

Why couldn't he make any sense of the incursion of sensory information besieging his system?

He pressed his palms into crevices of his ears hoping to silence the raucous murmurs plaguing his ears but to no avail.

"Answer me!" Sasuke shouted failing to provoke the non-communicative boy.

A sudden surge of pain jolted Madara abruptly landing him back to the face of reality. Sasuke rammed his sword through his abdomen pausing for a moment before retracting the blade brusquely. Madara spluttered blood from his mouth as he felt the cold steel blade glide out of his abdomen. Disregarding the pain, he clasped his hand firmly over the gash in an attempt to staunch the flow of blood.

He gazed beyond Sasuke catching sight of the two women entering the mouth of the hallway. They had been similarly marked with the purple diamond upon their brows.

"Stop it right now!" Tsunade's deep voice commanded as she darted into the hallway waving a stern hand.

Sakura lagged behind her hastening her pace upon detecting the stench of blood. She rushed faithfully to Madara's side sighting the copious flow of blood staining his shirt red.

Tsunade interjected herself between the two Uchiha hindering any further continuance of the clash. "That's enough, both of you!"

Sasuke sheathed his sword refusing to suspend his vigilant gaze on the young boy.

Sakura lifted Madara's shirt assessing the extent of his injury. She held the palm of her hand just above the borders of his laceration. "Hold on, I'll heal you!"

He gazed into her vibrant green eyes narrowed firmly in complete concentration. His lips parted open preparing to utter the girl's name in reply to her swift arrival to his aid.

"Weak, ugly woman…"

Tsunade and Sakura flinched in unison as if they had been backhanded in the face by the boy's harsh words.

Madara clenched his jaw tightly unsure of why his tongue had suddenly defied him.

Why did he say that?

"Hn." Sasuke grunted coldly folding his arms.

So the boy did remember.

Sakura immediately tuned out the noise of the surrounding environment and reinstated her focus to the task at hand. She conjured chakra to the palm of her hand however; she struggled to force her chakra beyond the skin of her palms. Instead of illuminating in a shroud of green, revitalizing light, her hand remained bare.

She glanced at the palm of her hand inspecting it thoroughly for any hint of defect. Her chakra reserves were certainly not depleted and she faced no difficulty in sending it to the appropriate location. However, the rejuvenating green light persistently failed to move beyond the barrier of her skin.

"My healing ninjutsu…it won't work!" She cried out.

* * *

Madara lay shirtless on the bed of the barren room as Sakura organized her kit of medical supplies. She had previously injected the surrounding tissue with anesthetic through several attempts as her shaky hands interfered with her accuracy. She draped a sterile sheet over his abdomen with a window framing the site of his wound. Afterwards, she dabbed the wound with patches of gauze sodden in saline. The gauze patch slipped from her finger dropping onto the sheets of the bed.

He heard her curse beneath her breath as she retrieved the soiled pieces of gauze from the bed. She picked up a pair of forceps only to subsequently drop them to the floor contaminating the tool.

"Dammit…" She muttered to herself instead fishing for a bottle of saline to flush the debris from the depths of his laceration.

"I'm sorry…" Madara said faintly recalling his unintentional words.

"Don't worry about it." Sakura smiled unscrewing the bottle.

Her smile was unmistakably false.

She yanked vigorously spilling the entire contents of the bottle onto his stomach. Tossing the empty bottle aside, she dabbed the site of the wound and toweled off the surrounding area drenched in saline.

"Oops. I'm sorry." She delivered yet another phony smile.

"Sakura, do you fear me?" He asked somberly. His dark eyes fixed on her intently.

She spoke in an unusually high pitched tone through a forced smile. "There's no need to ask such trivial questions."

Following repeatedly failed attempts, she finally managed to thread the suture through the needle struggling to steady her trembling opposite hand wielding a hemostat. Her hands quivered as she hovered over the edge of the laceration. The suture slipped through the loop of the needle falling onto the surface of his abdomen. She hastily snatched up the suture in her fingers and retired her tools back to the kit. She crumpled the wrapping of the kit together terminating her shoddy attempt at maintaining sterile field.

"It seems I'm just too clumsy today. I'll have Tsunade-sama come down and do this instead. I should've let her do it in the first place!" Sakura threw her hands up in resignation.

"You're just trying to avoid me!" Madara sat up flinging the drape aside.

"Tsunade-sama can do a much better job than I can. She's the best healer in the world!"

Madara scowled as she kept answering him with dismissive replies. "It's because you fear me…detest me! I was the one responsible for your death!"

Sakura's lips gaped open unable to deliver him a response. How had he remembered? There was no conceivable way he could've remembered on his own unless Sasuke had…

He rapidly weaved a series of hand signs enveloping the room in a veil of smoke. Sakura took a cautious step backward uncertain yet frightened by the unknown objective of his actions.

The adult form of Madara emerged from beyond the veil of smoke seizing Sakura's left wrist.

"Then I'll erase it! I'll erase it all!" His bellowed ruthlessly tightening his grip around her wrist.

"No!" Sakura screamed loudly struggling to wrench her arm from his hold.

She yanked with excessive force, the adrenaline numbing her to the pain shooting through the length of her arm with each pull. His grasp was firm and unrelenting posing a higher probability of her tearing her arm from its socket than freeing herself from his hold with her arm intact.

"Please! Stop!" She wailed desperately as her boots scuffed the floor in her frantic attempt to flee.

She continued screaming at the maximum volume the capacity of her lungs could tolerate.

"Come here, Sakura." He commanded her.

Her screams escalated in volume exceeding the limits of her vocal cords. "No! No!"

With her unrestricted hand, she searched for the syringe within her pocket. She drew the syringe swiftly uncapping with needle with the pad of her thumb. Before she could safely orient the needle towards her target, Madara struck her hand knocking the syringe from her fingers. The bright pink syringe plummeted to the floor and rolled away from her. Her eyes briefly followed the syringe as it journeyed underneath the bed eliminating any hope of recovering it.

"No!" Her strained voice cried out. Her pleas futilely fell upon deaf ears as he exhibited no intentions of releasing her.

Her hysteric screaming and struggling rapidly exhausted her stamina. Part of her urged her to continue fighting until she drew her very last breath yet another part of her implored her to resign her struggle and submit to his whims. With her stamina depleted and her last resort residing underneath the bed her hopes of fighting him off were all for naught.

As the force of her yanking quickly subsided, he jerked her towards his body lifting her off her feet. He pulled her into a firm embrace pressing her against his bare chest. The fight faded from her muscles instead transforming into an attack of shivers. Tears streamed from her eyes as her tiny body trembled violently. She hyperventilated incessantly which soon mingled with her noisy whimpers.

He could feel her bounding pulse racing beneath the suppleness of her breast pressed against his firmed muscle. Her chest heaved rapidly incapable of maintaining a steady stream of air due to her shallow breaths.

Without speaking a word, he embraced her petite body.

And waited patiently.

A considerable amount of time had passed until he could hear the rhythmical ticking of the analogue clock once again.

He continued holding her as her muscles completely depleted their energy reserves ceasing the attack of shivers afflicting her body. Her respirations gradually depressed permitting her to breathe deeply and evenly. She swallowed down her whimpers silencing herself completely.

The glossy coat of tears within her eyes receded as her tears finally deserted her. She blinked steadily staring vacantly into the wall of his chest.

As her pulse decelerated and diminished in force, she heaved a drawn out sigh discarding the last nuance of tension gripping her body.

"Do you fear me?" He asked again disrupting the tranquil period of silence encompassing the room.

Sakura glanced down as her red shirt had been stained a darker shade of crimson. Her fingers pinched the hem of her sodden shirt clinging heavily to the skin underneath. She hadn't noticed the blood continuing to gush from his wound.

Her gaze lifted to his grave face still awaiting an answer. Subsequently, her eyes descended to the untreated gaping wound on his abdomen.

She placed her hand over the site of his wound focusing chakra to the skin of her palms. An orb of light emanated from the palm of her hand enveloping the laceration in the soothing, green chakra.

Closing her eyes, she exhaled serenely.

"No."

* * *

_A/N: Since I assume few people will know what the title of the chapter is referencing, I suppose I owe you an explanation. "Flooding" refers to a technique used in treating PTSD, phobias, etc. where the subject is exposed to the source of trauma evoking fear until the fear response eventually subsides. It's an extremely harsh method bordering on cruelty although it can be very effective. Ya, there's quite a lot of medicine and psychology in this little fanfic. ;) _

_Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for reading and please review! _


	8. Pariah

_A/N: Ask kindly and you shall receive._

* * *

Sasuke, Sakura, and Madara congregated before the Hokage within the private confines of her office. Tsunade sat behind her desk, resting her chin on her interlaced fingers.

She heaved a forced sigh and leaned against the backrest of her chair. "All matter discussed within this office shall remain strictly confidential. Do I make myself clear?"

Sakura nodded replying with a compliant "yes" while Sasuke grunted affirmatively.

Madara stood beside Sakura utilizing her as a barrier between him and Sasuke. He maintained a wary eye on the opposing Uchiha casting him a baleful glare every time their eyes met.

"Sakura and I ran a couple tests in order to confirm some things." Her amber eyes rested upon the young boy. "Madara, what I am about to reveal may come as a shock to you though I feel it is important you are aware of this. Are you prepared to hear what I am about to say?"

His eyes flittered towards Sakura and back to the Hokage. He nodded his head awaiting her impending words with bated anticipation.

"From the samples we obtained from you we were able to observe your DNA. The results of the test confirmed that your DNA is, in fact, that of Uchiha Madara's."

Sasuke's brow furrowed as he digested Tsunade's report. So it was true. His instinct had been remarkably accurate.

"However…" Tsunade cleared her throat. "Upon further inspection, we noted the characteristics of your DNA to be far too aged to match your biological age. We also inspected your body's cells to confirm your biological age in contrast to the age of your DNA. In conclusion, we have determined that you are the clone of Uchiha Madara."

"Clone?!" Madara suddenly blurted loudly. "What do you mean?!"

"Someone harvested the cells of Uchiha Madara and used them to create you. In addition, they granted you a portion of his soul in order to animate you. You currently exist as the result of an incredibly elaborate laboratory experiment."

Madara's hands rolled into tightly clenched fists. He lowered his head pursing his lips into a tight grimace.

Sakura lifted her hand limply before her chest spotting the boy's trembling fists.

"You're saying I'm just a lab experiment?!" His voice reverberated off the walls of the Hokage's office. "Is that all I am?!"

Sasuke's brow lifted in astonishment having unanticipated this revelation. He had been persistently baffled as to why Madara assumed the default appearance of a child.

"Before you dawdle in anger, answer this question. Where were you before you encountered Sakura?" Tsunade said calmly raising her hand in the air to mollify the boy's temper.

"I don't know where! I was in a forest and before that I was with the snake man!"

Tsunade answered curtly. "Orochimaru."

"Yes! That was his name! I was with him and another. He locked me up like an animal and tortured me nonstop. Whenever, I begged them to stop they said it was necessary to test my power." Madara's suddenly paused for a moment as his face contorted grimly. "That man…Orochimaru…said my body belonged to him!"

The occupants of the office widened their eyes in collective shock.

Tsunade shook her head distraught by her former comrade's corrupt activities. She wasn't quite sure as to why the revelation shocked her to this extent. Orochimaru had sided with the Shinobi Alliance during the war helping contribute to Madara's defeat. However, she was well aware that his incessant pursuit of power and immortality trumped all other priorities. It was expected that he would employ an alternative means to obtaining the powers of the Uchiha after failing to hijack Sasuke's body.

"How did you escape?" Tsunade inquired, her tone urgent.

He pondered for a moment and answered in a low tone of voice edging closely to a deep growl. "Well, I was in a lot of pain and they said they would up the ante to unleash my true potential. I don't really remember what happened after that...I think there was a loud crash and the compound caved in. When I crawled out of the rubble, I noticed a giant rock had crushed the compound. I don't know where it came from but I ran as far away as I could. I wandered the forest for days fighting off ninja who kept threatening to kidnap me. I continued fighting them until Sakura intervened."

"Those ninja…they had been Sound ninja." Sakura spoke up avoiding Madara's gaze. "They were likely deployed by Orochimaru in order to recover you."

"Orochimaru is a tenacious bastard. He is difficult to kill and even more challenging to deter from his goals." Sasuke suddenly halted his tongue calling to mind a critical relic of his previous mentor's schemes. "Quiet! Don't speak anymore!"

He shouted loudly alarming the rest of the occupants.

"Check his neck!" Sasuke hollered gesturing Sakura to inspect the boy. "Orochimaru could be monitoring us through the Cursed Seal right now!"

Without hesitation, Sakura obeyed Sasuke's commands tugging down the collar of Madara's shirt scanning for any hint of the distinct tomoe patterning of Orochimaru's Cursed Seal. She repeated her search as a precaution only to find bare, unmarked skin.

She cast her gaze to Sasuke shaking her head to relay her negative findings.

"What is this Cursed Seal?" Madara rubbed his neck gingerly as Sakura released the collar of his shirt.

"It's a seal that contains Orochimaru's chakra." Sasuke explained suspending the urgency in his voice. "He can use it to influence anyone marked with the seal and also as a tool for espionage."

Tsunade cupped the tip of her chin in her hand narrowing her eyes meditatively. "Even coupled with the DNA of my grandfather, a cloned body would have a very short life span due to the truncation of the original's telomeres. Orochimaru likely used juvenile somatic cells in order to avert this caveat and extend the lifespan of the body. He also must've found a way to access the original's soul after we had sealed it away in the war. In that case, your chronological age probably does not match your biological age. Furthermore…"

The buxom women's voice descended gravely.

"I fear the efficiency in Orochimaru's methods. If he has managed to create a perfect replica of Uchiha Madara in this amount of time…" She shuddered internally recalling her miserable battle against Madara's wood clones. "…who knows how many more might be out there…?"

Sasuke and Sakura's faces blanched in horror as the young boy contorted his face in a flabbergasted yet irate manner.

Tsunade resumed speaking interrupting the intense silence gripping the office. "The next course of action would be to gather more information regarding Orochimaru's activities and stop his experiments as soon as possible before we are stricken with yet another disaster."

"I want to go." Madara declared firmly, his eyes meeting the Hokage's doggedly. "I want to confront my creator again. I want him to answer my questions. Most importantly, I want to stop him."

Sakura grasped Madara's shoulders. He gazed up at her draped beneath her vibrant pink tresses. "I'll go with you and help you in any way I can."

Tsunade smiled faintly observing the unusual softness in the boy's dark eyes. She folded her arms beneath her large bust smothering the sudden stitch within her chest.

Sasuke's eyes hardened upon observing the sickeningly soft expression on the boy's face. He had witnessed it solely with each interaction the boy shared with Sakura—and the more he saw it, the more it repulsed him.

Sasuke spoke up. "I volunteer myself for this mission. As a former pupil of Orochimaru, I am familiar with the location of his previous research facilities."

"Very well then." Tsunade replied.

The softness promptly vanished from the boy's eyes as he threw Sasuke a disapproving scowl.

"I trust you two will behave yourselves and work together without any further incident on this mission." The Hokage's eyes shifted back and forth between the opposing scowls worn on the two Uchihas' faces.

Her eyes landed on Sakura expectantly. The girl nodded comprehending the Hokage's wordless message of preserving the peace.

"You three will leave before sunrise as to not seize the attention of any of the villagers. Understood?"

Following the group's collective approval, they disbanded exiting the Hokage's office. Sakura escorted Madara back to the small room in the basement. She departed pledging to return soon after a short visit to her home in order to stock up on supplies and fresh clothing.

He watched the hand of the analogue clock drag slowly wishing for the girl to hasten her arrival. He heard a sharp rasp on the wooden door and approached it warily.

"Mada-kun?" A soft, muffled voice spoke from behind the door.

Sakura entered the room carrying several bags of food and supplies. "I'm sorry I'm late. I took a little detour and brought you something to eat."

The delectable smell of sweets and fried foods lingered in the air as they dined on the bed. Madara picked at a carton of rice while Sakura rapidly wolfed down a spoonful of green tea ice cream.

She clasped her hand against her head as a sudden sliver of pain seized her cranium. "Ow…shouldn't eat that so fast…Huh? Mada-kun, are you alright? You've barely eaten anything."

Her worry ridden eyes fixated on the boy. She set her bowl down on the bed and offered him the carton of ice cream.

He refused the offering and gazed down at his rice vacantly. "It's just that…well I'm only a clone…I'm not even a real person…"

"Not a real person?" The corners of her mouth descended firmly. She scooped a spoonful of ice cream and reeled back the bowl of the spoon with her thumb. Her thumb released the spoon catapulting the spoonful of ice cream into his forehead.

"Hey!" He shouted indignantly wiping the ice cream from his brow. "What was that for?!"

"Did you feel that?"

"Of course I did!"

"Then I'm pretty sure you're a real person." She boasted a playful grin. Her teasing grin faded to a modest smile. "Only those who are inhuman feel absolutely nothing…"

"Everyone hates me because I'm Uchiha Madara! But I'm not even him…I'm just a copy of him…there is no place for me in this world…"

"Even though you are a clone, you are still a unique individual."

"But I was created for the sole purpose of becoming Orochimaru's body…"

Sakura interrupted him. "Sometimes people are born with the intentions of fulfilling a purpose like carrying on a bloodline or family name…However, no human is truly born into this world with a predestined purpose. All humans are born with freewill—the power to choose their own path and find purpose in their lives. Even with Madara's tarnished name, you still possess the ability to walk a path divergent from his."

"Do you really believe that?" His dark eyes enlarged keenly.

"Yes." She answered pneumatically. "I have witnessed those who had taken the lives of others…who had caused unspeakable despair and destruction…who had been thought to be irrevocably lost to the darkness…alter their paths and redeem themselves in the eyes of the world. I have no doubts you can do the same."

"How are you so sure?"

She smiled warmly resting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Because I will be there by your side supporting you along the way."

A rosy blush crept to the surface of his cheeks. Instead of obscuring his flushed face, he returned her warm smile with a large grin.

* * *

Sakura and Madara stood beside the village gates awaiting Sasuke's arrival. As the sun began to rise, the village had largely been vacant.

"Where is he?" Sakura folded her arms. "It's not like him to be late."

Madara couldn't have cared less as to whether the other Uchiha arrived or not.

Sakura caught the tantalizing scent of freshly baked bread lingering in the stagnant morning air. Unable to resist the temptation of the smell, she suggested an alternative idea. "Maybe we can get some bread while we wait for Sasuke-kun."

Madara trailed behind Sakura as she headed towards the nearest bakery. He detracted from his path upon hearing the familiar voices of children in the marketplace.

"Kuni-baasama gave us money so we can buy the freshest bread. I don't think we should waste it!" Mina's high pitched voice chided her fellow orphans.

"I don't think they've baked any pastries yet. Maybe we should just get the bread." Taro retorted. "I mean we woke up this early just to get bread right out of the oven."

Hideki placed his hands to his hips. "They might have left over pastries from yesterday. I still think we should get some."

Taro's head suddenly snapped toward Madara's direction as he emerged from behind a deserted vendor. "Mada-kun?"

Hideki suddenly shouted pointing at Madara in a hostile manner. "You! It's _you_!"

Madara contorted his face perplexed by the orphan's unexpected hostility.

"Huh? What's the matter, Hideki?" Mina tilted her head curiously.

"It's him! He's Uchiha Madara!" Hideki shouted as the other children flinched.

Taro glanced to Hideki's swelteringly red face. "What? How do you know that?"

"Kuni-baasama was so worried about Mada-kun she sent for help to find him. I overheard her talking with a messenger of the Hokage. He told her that Mada-kun was really Uchiha Madara and he was the one who attacked the village! That's why Mada-kun never returned to Hoshi House!"

Sheer panic suddenly seized the other two orphans as they gazed upon the raven haired boy standing before them.

"My parents!" Hideki's voice echoed in the vacant marketplace. "My parents were in the Fourth Division! They were killed by the meteorite you dropped on them!"

Madara's eyes widened as his pupils constricted incredulously. He remained silent unable to respond to the shouting boy's statement.

Tears flooded Hideki's eyes as his furious yelling turned to grieved howling. "You! You killed my parents, you fucking monster!"

Mina released a piercing scream clutching fearfully to Taro's arm as Madara lifted his hand limply toward his chest.

"Please!" Taro wailed desperately. "Please don't hurt us!"

"Papa! Papa, please protect me!" Mina cried out through her frantic sobs.

Hideki screamed at maximum volume repeatedly.

"Monster! Monster! Monster! Monster! **Monster!**"

Madara's teeth clenched his bottom lip firmly as Hideki continued his barrage of screams. His hand rolled into a quivering fist unable to continue parrying the repetitive blows of Hideki's words.

"Enough!" Madara snapped causing the children to reflexively recoil in fear.

The orphans trembled before him sobbing in silence. Mina began to whimper loudly as her tiny body quivered violently. She suddenly separated from Taro's arm and boldly locked eyes with Madara.

Before Madara could open his mouth to speak, the young girl lunged for him shoving him to the ground.

"Mina, don't!" Hideki and Taro screamed in unison.

Madara toppled backward landing in a crablike position. He gazed up at the girl wailing hysterically as she yanked the arms of her companions. Sakura peered around the corner alerted to the screams resounding from within the marketplace.

"Hurry! Run! Run! Run fast! Run far away!" Mina's shrill voice pleaded.

"But…I…" Madara said faintly.

He remained downed on the pavement watching the children frantically scamper away into the distance. A transient paralysis seized his body as he had been stricken with a bombardment of conflicting emotions. A vengeful part of him wished to return their violence while the rational part of him wished he could simply explain himself to the terrified orphans.

Sakura approached him slowly and dropped to the ground striking the skin of her knees against the pavement. She gripped his shoulders bearing a deadpan expression and subsequently wrapped her arms around him in a consoling embrace. She said nothing as she hugged him firmly.

Although he could not see her face, he felt her chest heave in a rapid fashion.

She was crying.

"Why do you cry?" He asked despite his awareness of her reasons.

Although Sakura had been acclimated to the cruelties of humanity, she still never could bear to witness a child suffering. There was an even greater sense of despondency in witnessing the rejection of a child incited by other children.

Many of the children residing in Hoshi House had been orphaned as a result of the war. Even across the generations, every single one of the villagers in Konoha had been severely afflicted by the war.

Despite the optimism she had tried to convey towards the boy's future, she realized that she had fed him nothing but fanciful lies.

In truth, the wounds Uchiha Madara had inflicted upon the world would never heal. Consequently, the boy certainly would never be accepted by the village of Konoha nonetheless the rest of the shinobi world. She grieved not only because of this loss but because of the uncertainty of his fate.

Perhaps there truly was no place for him in this world…

Sasuke stood at a distance observing his excessively compassionate teammate hug the young boy in the middle of the marketplace. He uttered an impassive grunt and averted his gaze from the revolting scene.

* * *

_A/N: Due to upcoming academic commitments, I may not be able to update in a timely manner so I will apologize in advance. _

…_Who am I kidding? I'm probably just going to procrastinate and write fanfics anyway. ;P_

_Anyway, thanks for reading and please review! _


	9. Projection

_A/N: Hey guess, what? I'm still alive! No, I didn't abandon this story. Now that I have a bit of free time, I can get back to writing. _

_As far as ages go…_

_Since the events of the story occur a couple of months following the war, Sakura is 17 years old. _

_Madara's age? Well, that's a bit more complicated. _

_Genetically? He is however old he was when he died after disconnecting from the Gedo Mazo. So pretty much very old. Physically? Since he contains the original's DNA infused with child cells, he was stated to have the appearance of a pre-teen so he looks about 11 years old. Chronologically? He was created in Orochimaru's lab after the war and hasn't really lived very long beyond that and traveling with Sakura. Not very old! _

_I hope that clears up a few things. _

* * *

Following the departure from the Konoha village gates, their journey north had largely been silent. Sasuke had previously affirmed his familiarity of Orochimaru's abandoned laboratories nestled between the borders of the Land of Sound and Land of Fire.

Despite the discomfiting silence, time seemed to pass ominously slow as they branch hopped through the forest beyond Konoha's borders. Sakura shuddered uncomfortably sensing the palpable static between the two inimical Uchiha.

As they reached the shore of the Naka River, Sakura suggested they make a brief pit stop before fording the river. Sasuke watched her slink away into the privacy of the woods before approaching the young boy standing absently before the rushing waters.

Madara stiffened immediately and hastily pulled his robe over himself. "How many times do I have to tell you not to stand behind me!"

Instead of hearing an apologetic yet chipper voice he was met by silence. He craned his neck over his shoulder catching Sasuke in the corner of his eye.

The boy's voice descended icily. "Oh, it's you."

Sasuke's countenance hardened although he did not respond.

"Where's Sakura?" He asked, scrunching his brow in a surly manner.

His inquiry must have struck a nerve as Sasuke's stolid expression seemed to result in anger. "Even though you are merely a clone, you still do not deserve her kindness."

The boy simply uttered a throaty growl while Sasuke continued on.

"You still harbor the hatred, the evil of the original Madara. You even repeated the exact same words to her that you uttered when she died."

"I didn't mean it!" Madara protested fervently. "It's just that I kept hearing all these voices and seeing all these things that didn't make any sense to me…"

"Regardless, you have proven that you cannot be trusted."

Madara's deep charcoal orbs locked on Sasuke, barely curbing the urge to activate his Sharingan. "I don't care whether you trust me or not."

"There is no place for you here. The village despises you, the world despises you! You will always be seen as Uchiha Madara. Even Sakura is aware of that."

Madara turned away facing opposite of Sasuke. He clenched his fingers into a fist holding his arms rigidly at his sides.

"If I can't find a place in this world that will accept me…" His voice resonated darkly yet with sheer conviction. "…then I will create a place where I can live…where I can live together with Sakura."

For a fleeting moment, he figured his proclamation had finally silenced the opposing Uchiha. It wasn't until he heard a haughty chuckle mock him from behind his back. He spun around swiftly confronting the conceited grin worn on Sasuke's face.

"That will never happen." Sasuke uttered a scornful laugh. His vicious smirk suddenly faded to a more restrained glower. "Sakura has family, friends, duties, a village she calls home…she has a life beyond you! Do you honestly believe she would abandon all of those things just to be with a _fake_ like you?!"

"Shut up!" The boy quickly resigned his attempt at suppressing his Sharingan from activating.

Sasuke merely tucked his hands beneath his folded arms unperturbed by the boy's display of hostility. "Go ahead and bare your Sharingan at me. You're simply proving my point that you cannot be trusted."

"I won't be belittled by the likes of you!" Madara hissed combatively.

Sasuke could feel the heat of the boy's flaring chakra prickling the surface of his skin. He reached behind himself gripping the handle of his sword in preparation of an impending attack.

"Sasuke-kun! Mada-kun!" Sakura's voice called out from the distance.

Sasuke released the handle of his blade as the boy's wrathful chakra receded. Their heads snapped in concert towards the direction of Sakura's calling voice. She jogged towards the two Uchiha and halted before them observing their unusually close proximity.

"What's going on here?" She inquired noting the crimson gleam of the boy's eyes. "Have you two been fighting again?"

"It's nothing." Madara said curtly, proceeding towards the edge of the waters. He stepped across the surface of the river advancing towards the other side at a hurried pace.

Sakura flashed a skeptical glance to Sasuke who merely returned her skepticism with indifference as he continued forward across the river.

The voyage beyond the river had been once again, to Sakura's dismay, awkwardly silent. Sasuke led the formation while she remained steadily in between the two Uchiha to prevent further confrontation. The boy had begun to trail behind her, the distance between them gradually growing greater with each passing hour.

She glanced behind herself monitoring the boy's condition periodically. He kept his Sharingan active despite the absence of any imminent threats. The sun had begun to set painting the sky with a mosaic of deep orange and blue hues.

"You seem quite tired." She said to the boy hoping to placate him with a forced smile. However, she knew very well that his lagging pace was not the product of fatigue. "We should rest now."

Sasuke set a campfire ablaze with a katon jutsu as Sakura unraveled the sleeping bags and laid them beside the warm perimeter of the campfire. She noticed the black tomoe of Madara's Sharingan flickering in the firelight.

"Are you alright, Mada-kun?" Sakura asked gently smoothing out the ruffles of his sleeping bag.

His eyes quickly flittered towards Sasuke before he turned away from her and answered tersely. "I'm fine."

Sakura did not miss his scathing glance to the source of his discontent. Tsunade had relied on her to play the role of peacemaker on this mission and it was a role she was quickly failing to preserve. She knew that whatever had happened at the Naka River would rapidly escalate to violence should she fail her role. If she did not intervene now, the chances of executing a successful mission were close to nil. Nevertheless, she was completely helpless against the powers of two feuding Uchiha.

"Sasuke-kun." She spoke sternly rousing the Uchiha from his brooding state. "We need to talk."

He furrowed his brow in a manner that conveyed his disapproval.

"Now." She seized his wrist pulling him to his feet.

Sakura led him away from the campfire deeper into the woods until they were outside of Madara's earshot.

The fragmented the rays of moonlight shining through the forest canopy barely illuminated the features of their faces.

"What is so urgent?" Sasuke wrenched his wrist free from her grip.

"I know you were the one who told Mada-kun about his past." She spoke in a hushed voice.

Sasuke's stolidity did not falter in the face of her accusation. "It does not matter."

"It does matter!" She cried out. "We wanted to give him a fair chance!"

Madara stealthily snuck away from the campfire and observed the conversation in the distance. Even in the poorly lit forest, he could trace the movements of their lips enabling him to eavesdrop on their every word.

"A fair chance?! Sakura, have you gone mad?! He never had a fair chance to begin with!"

He continued speaking quashing any opportunity for Sakura to offer a rebuttal. "Even you are fully aware that the village rejects him. The entire shinobi world rejects him. Even if he is just a clone the world will always see him as Uchiha Madara. He is not innocent! He attacked the village and tried to kill me. You would've lost your life a second time if you hadn't activated your regenerative jutsu! Or have you forgotten? Have you forgotten everything that happened in the Shinobi World War?!"

Sasuke's voice continued to reverberate through the forest although a harsh silence had been cast between them.

"No, Sasuke. I did not forget the events of the Shinobi World War…" She inhaled deeply and spoke pneumatically. "…nor did I forget the events in the Land of Iron."

Sasuke's skin blanched although he was certain Sakura could not witness it in the dim moonlight.

Madara observed Sasuke's sudden alarm from the distance. Whatever happened in the Land of Iron had dealt a strong blow to the Uchiha who had been persistently verbally assaulting him and now he was curious to learn the further details of their conversation.

She lifted her head fixing her gaze on the shadowy profile of his face. "For a long time, I was tormented…tormented by my own weakness in abandoning my faith that you could ever be redeemed from the darkness. I was imprisoned by the pain of my own mistakes and filled with regret that I could never cast away. The only way I could free myself from my self-imprisonment—the only way I could forgive you for your transgressions—was to forgive myself for my own transgressions…"

She clasped a hand over her chest and paused briefly. "In doing so, I felt a huge burden lift from my heart and felt empowered with a newfound strength. When you and Naruto were on the verge of death, I took a gamble with my own life. I clung to the hope that Naruto's life would be restored and that he would defeat Madara—together with you. That you would both discover your true strength and you would revitalize the spirit of unity that was Team 7…even if it was without me."

Although she could not see his face clearly, Sasuke's silence had made it evident that her words had stricken him.

"Even though you have yet to utter a word of apology—and I know that you have been diligently keeping yourself distant from me even despite the fact that you have returned to living in Konoha—I cannot bear the burden of holding a grudge against you. If I did, I would be incapable of moving on from the past and looking forward to the future. I know you are understandably hostile towards Mada-kun but even knowing that he is not the same as the original you still antagonize him. You say there is no chance that he can ever be redeemed…"

Sakura's voice suddenly descended gravely in a manner that made Sasuke's blood run cold. "I question whether you are projecting your own feelings of self-loathing onto Mada-kun…"

Sasuke gnashed his teeth together piqued by the girl's harsh words. "That is far from the truth! What Uchiha Madara has done is unforgivable! Don't try to draw comparisons between two completely unrelated things!"

"I wasn't talking about forgiving Madara." She spoke confidently despite the seething anger in Sasuke's voice. "You cannot move on until you forgive the one person that matters…only a coward can never learn to forgive, right?"

Sakura turned away and headed back towards the campfire without a further word. Sasuke watched her leave unaware of the boy's surveillance of the entire conversation.

How dare she speak ill of him and suggest such a skewered analysis of his feelings.

She was unmistakably insane for considering the boy could ever receive an opportunity of redemption.

Uchiha Madara tried to wipe out Konoha for god's sake! She was stupid to believe the kid could ever call the place home.

Yes, he himself had once desired the destruction of the village as well…and he was initially met with flagrant rejection upon reintroduction into the village…

But it was not the same!

Uchiha Madara was responsible for her death and for that the kid did not deserve one iota of her kindness regardless if he was a clone. It was absolutely revolting!

He did not deserve to be near her!

He did not deserve her compassion!

He did not deserve her comforting embrace!

Sasuke leaned against the trunk of the tree pressing his back against the rough bark. His body descended down the trunk until he was seated on the ground.

He glanced at his hands and curled his fingers still engrossed in deep thought. His fingers suddenly numbed as he was plagued by phantom memories of the pink haired girl gasping desperately for air as his fingers wrapped around her throat. Her piercing screams and cries resonated in his ears uncannily.

He would've taken her life…Her delicate windpipe at the mercy of his own hands…

He suddenly recalled the Kyuubi's words to him during his encounter with the tailed beast. "_Those eyes and chakra of yours are even more sinister than my own...you're the spitting image of Uchiha Madara."_

"I'm not like him!" He shouted angrily into the vacant forest as if expecting someone to answer him. "I'm not like him at all!"

Sasuke curled into himself burying his face into his hands.

How could she forgive so easily? Following the war, she had apologized profusely to him for her own attempt on his life but he had never even spoken a word of apology to her.

He squeezed his eyelids shut continuing to cover his face in the security of his hands. Heaving a forced and drawn out sigh, he whispered inaudibly into his hands. "…I'm sorry …"

No longer interested in observing Sasuke, the young boy retreated to the campfire in order to retire for the night.

* * *

They had continued north finally reaching the closest known abandoned laboratory before the edge of the Land of Fire.

Sakura shuddered internally as she passed a jar containing a mass of skin and hair that looked suspiciously like a teratoma.

Sasuke immediately headed towards a library of stowed scrolls probing for any evidence of Orochimaru's research on cloning.

She was uncertain as to how Sasuke could develop the tolerance to stomach the disturbing sight of Orochimaru's failed experiments. Madara trailed behind her viewing a snake-like fetus suspended in a liquid jar. It seemed the boy had already become acclimated to the unsettling sight of the Sannin's unethical experiments.

"Can we hurry with this? Even as a medic, I don't think I can stomach the sight of these experiments." Sakura hugged her body tightly suppressing the urge to shudder yet again.

Sakura spotted something white and scaly dangling from behind the shelf above Madara's head. Her eyes suddenly widened in disbelief as the white object began to descend towards the boy's neck.

In a single swift motion, she tackled the boy out of the trajectory of an albino snake's vicious fangs. The snake's fangs latched onto the side of her cheek causing her to collapse to the ground in agony.

"Sakura!" Madara called out alerting Sasuke to her distress.

He drew his blade as the snake released its fangs from her flesh and attempted to flee. He rammed the blade into the ground impaling the albino snake until it fell limp and ceased all movement.

The distinct black tomoe mark quickly faded into Sakura's flesh suddenly causing her to scream and convulse. Her hands suddenly snapped upward towards her forehead. She pressed her hands against her brow in a futile attempt to stifle her pain.

"What's happening?!" Madara shouted above her screaming.

Sasuke grasped her rigid arms and peeled her hands away from her forehead. Her screams and convulsions seemed to intensify as a black hue seeped through the royal purple rhombus of her Byakugou Seal.

"Shit!" Sasuke cursed as the pitch-black hue completely superseded the purple diamond mark. "He marked her with the Cursed Seal!"

* * *

_A/N: Ya, I know. Obligatory Sasuke scolding chapter. This fanfic is coming into the homestretch so please stay tuned! Thanks for reading and please review! _


	10. Completion

_A/N: I meant to have this chapter out much sooner. However, I recently had a minor surgery which went relatively well except for the complimentary infection that followed afterwards. Very fun! Anyways, back to the story!_

* * *

The two Uchiha helplessly watched the screaming girl continue to writhe on the floor. Her agonized cries resonated through the desolate walls of the abandoned laboratory. The rich purple Byakugou Seal marking her forehead had now assumed a slick, black hue as the foreign chakra of the Cursed Seal finally settled.

The boy's worry ridden eyes landed on Sasuke conveying his demand for immediate answers. He raised his voice above the loud, unbridled screams of the girl. "What's happening to her?"

"Sakura's body is incompatible with the Cursed Seal …" Sasuke's tone descended solemnly. "It looks like it's leaked into her Byakugou Seal and contaminated it…"

"What does that mean?" The boy raised his voice struggling to catch Sasuke's words beneath Sakura's shrill screams.

"The Cursed Seal contains Orochimaru's senjutsu chakra. Even if she does survive the application process…Orochimaru's chakra will poison the chakra contained in her Byakugou Seal and eventually kill her."

Madara's brow furrowed as he glanced down to the convulsing girl and then back to Sasuke. "Isn't there a way we can remove it?"

"No." Sasuke shook his head. "Only Orochimaru can remove the seal. It's too difficult for either of us to suppress the seal without tampering with her Byakugou Seal. If the chakra in her seal is depleted, she'll fall into a coma."

"Well, isn't there something we can do?"

"I don't know…" Sasuke lifted her trembling body into his arms cradling her against his chest in order to restrict her movements. "Let's just get her somewhere safe for now."

Sasuke covered her quavering form beneath his cloak as he laid her on the grass outside the entrance of the laboratory. Her violent convulsions hindered him from carrying her far without the possibility of sustaining injury to either her or himself. Her rigid arms snapped back to her face as she smothered her palms against her brow in a vain effort to stifle the pain. Twin trails of tears streaked her grimy face while her anguished cries only seemed to intensify.

He noticed her chest spasm violently and suddenly cease further movement. In that moment, Sasuke's stomach plummeted as he realized the grave turn in her condition. The pain had paralyzed her diaphragm rendering her unable to breathe. A blue tinge crept to the surface of her lips as her screams gradually waned to pitiful moans. Her once vivid green eyes had become glazed and opaque as she seemed to submit to a wave of lethargy.

"Sakura! Sakura!" Sasuke called out in a desperate attempt to inhibit her from succumbing to unconsciousness.

He was unsure how to proceed. He hastily searched for any possible solution to salvage the girl's life. There was the possibility of calling forth a summon to transport her back to Konoha. However, neither his hawk nor Aoda possessed any means of rapid transportation to Konoha as they were not affiliated with the village. The only summon with the ability to sustain her life and transport her promptly to Tsunade was Katsuyu…and only Sakura was capable of summoning the slug.

The situation demanded the expertise of a medic-nin to rescue Sakura from the cusp of respiratory arrest. Medical ninjutsu was something vastly foreign to his understanding and in this desperate moment, he cursed his lack of knowledge on the subject.

"There must be something we can do!" Anger leaked into the boy's voice despite his desperation. Madara retrieved Sakura's backpack and haphazardly unzipped each and every pouch. He overturned the bag spilling its contents onto the grass.

Madara fell to all fours rummaging through the disarray of medical supplies strewn across the grass. He arbitrarily selected a packet of pills and a vial from the mess and raised them before Sasuke imploringly. "Isn't there a pill or shot or something in here that can save her?!"

"I don't even know what most of these things are for. We could very well kill her if we make a mistake." Sasuke's voice remained stoic in spite of the rampant panic enveloping him.

The boy dropped the items to the ground and bat through the equipment littered on the ground. "You're telling me she has all of these things and we can't even use anything to save her life?!"

"I don't know! I'm not a medic!" Sasuke roared furiously forsaking his contrived stoicism.

"What's the point…?" Madara muttered cynically touching his fingers to the rim of his eyes. "What's the point of having this power if I can't even use it to save her?"

_What should I do? _Sasuke searched his mind for any hint of a solution as Sakura's lips and fingertips had grown increasingly cyanotic.

He reminisced of the moment Orochimaru had branded him with the Cursed Seal rendering him unconscious in a similar manner. Despite the inconceivable pain, he had felt a nuance of relief gripping to Sakura's hand before he fell unconscious.

He reached for her hand pressing his palm against hers as their fingers intertwined. The boy observed him carefully noting the intense concentration marking Sasuke's countenance. Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut sagging his head in exhaustion. Trickles of sweat beaded his brow as he remained absolutely motionless without uttering a single word. His deep charcoal eyes enlarged incredulously as he heard Sakura draw a deep, audible breath. The wall of her chest expanded to its full capacity without constraint.

"Huh? She's breathing again!" The boy stated buoyantly noticing her restored respirations. "So you do know medical ninjutsu."

Sasuke shook his head denying the claim. "No, I'm simply sending tiny portions of chakra into her system to distract her from the pain. It seems to be working…however…"

He smeared the sweat from his brow with his unoccupied arm. "I don't have nearly the level of chakra control Sakura possesses to manipulate my chakra on such a minute level without overexerting myself. Too little chakra is ineffective and two much would cause her further pain. It's only a temporary solution."

Sasuke continued holding her hand sending his chakra into her system. His eyelids drooped listlessly as he was soon drained with the tedious process. Madara trained his eyes on Sasuke's face noting the patent fatigue which he had attempted to conceal in the boy's presence.

"Take a break." Madara said decidedly. "I'll take over."

Sasuke eyed Madara suspiciously. "Are you sure?"

"I want to do anything I can to help her." He crouched to her side opposite of Sasuke and lifted her hand.

He gripped her slightly larger yet delicate hand firmly narrowing his eyes in dogged concentration. Sasuke studied the candid determination written in the boy's face and released Sakura's hand.

Initially she flinched as he overestimated the amount of chakra required upon introduction. After a period of experimental calibration, he finally gauged the appropriate amount of chakra to maintain the girl's comfort. The process of continuously sending tiny portions of chakra in her system had been exactly as Sasuke described—demanding and tedious. However, he did not experience fatigue to the extent Sasuke had and also seemed to possess a greater aptitude for controlling chakra than Sasuke.

Despite their attempts to alleviate Sakura's pain, she would ultimately perish from the toxicity of Orochimaru's chakra if they could not find a means to rid her of the Cursed Seal. Sasuke was well aware of the fact that Orochimaru was currently monitoring them through the seal and that he could control how his chakra affected Sakura. Knowing full well the intentions of his former mentor, he entertained the prospect of bargaining with the Snake Sannin. However, he was no stranger to Orochimaru's backstabbing tendencies even if they should strike a deal. That didn't mean he wouldn't beat Orochimaru at his own game.

"That Cursed Seal was intended for you." Sasuke spoke with unforeseen coldness intending to test the boy's resolve. "In order to save Sakura, you must be returned to Orochimaru's possession."

Before Madara could seize the opportunity to speak, Sakura breathed loudly. "No…don't."

Madara's lips parted open absolutely flabbergasted by Sasuke's proclamation. "I'm not going back there to be that man's new body!"

"It's the only way to save Sakura." Sasuke countered conclusively, cognizant of Orochimaru's present surveillance of the conversation through the Cursed Seal. "You said you wanted to do anything you could to save her. Either relinquish yourself to Orochimaru or she dies."

"There has to be another way to save her!"

"There is no other way."

Madara scowled at the opposing Uchiha from across Sakura's body, rekindled hatred coursing through his veins. He was uncertain to why—after what seemed to be an involuntary truce— Sasuke would resume hostility towards him. He gazed at Sakura's taut facial muscles fighting the underlying pain threatening to resurface from beneath his minute doses of chakra and aptly channeled his hatred towards the instigator of her suffering.

His tiny fingers gripped her hand firmly as he was invigorated with indomitable resolve. He would save Sakura from the Cursed Seal and confront his creator without surrendering to the fate of becoming the Snake Sannin's new vessel.

Sakura's listless eyes suddenly shot open as she heard a voice speak within her mind with a soft hiss. It was a voice that belonged to none other than Orochimaru.

_I see…So Sasuke-kun wishes to return the boy in exchange for your life._

"No…please…" Sakura's murmured pleas seized the attentions of the two Uchiha.

_It's a deal I would be more than willing to honor._

"There's no way I'll let you…"

_I'll subdue my chakra to alleviate your pain and enable you to reach my current location. If you should deviate from the coordinates I'm about to give you, I'll intensify my chakra therefore hastening your death. _

She heard Orochimaru chuckle hoarsely as his ultimatum hushed her into compliance.

_Good girl. Now repeat the directions to my location for your Uchiha companions. Head north about 11 o'clock and travel directly 2.5 km. _

"North…11 o'clock…2.5 km…" She parroted weakly to her comrades. "That is where he is…"

_Very good. Keep in mind the consequences of your betrayal. I eagerly await your arrival._

Within moments of his voice parting her mind, the pain wracking her body dissipated. Her torso snapped upward as soon as the last pangs of pain subsided.

"Are you alright?" Sasuke asked watching her hand separate from Madara and plant firmly into the ground in order to hold her unsteady body upright.

"I'm fine now. Thank you…both of you." She hoisted herself to her feet and acknowledged the Uchiha with a warm, gracious smile. Her smile quickly faded as her face hardened with concern. "Orochimaru agreed to subdue his chakra as long as we're on course for his location. However…"

She paused as her eyes landed on Madara. As soon as her eyes met his, he spoke with assurance. "I'm prepared to meet Orochimaru again. I'll do whatever it takes to remove that Cursed Seal and stop him. Now, let's go."

Sasuke smirked discreetly with silent approval. Sakura's eyes moistened at his declaration as she recalled the events of their previous journey back to Konoha.

Underneath it all, he truly was a sweet child.

* * *

Following Orochimaru's brief directions, the trio continued north until they reached the foot of a sharp cliff hampering their forward projection. Fixating their chakra to the soles of their feet, they ascended the face of the cliff in a line headed by Madara with Sasuke covering the tail. They entered the compound nestled conveniently at the summit and scouted the bleak hallways in search of the Snake Sannin.

Orochimaru had, in fact, been eagerly awaiting their arrival within his laboratory and with his trusted apprentice faithfully beside him. The corners of his mouth drew upward into an ecstatic, yet cunning grin as he if he had just been presented with the greatest gift the world could offer—not one, but _two_ valuable Uchiha bodies.

"Welcome back, Madara." His feral, yellow eyes flittered between the two Uchiha mentally expunging the presence of the girl standing in between them. He spoke with deceptive affability, "Sasuke-kun."

Madara glowered at the pasty skinned man who had fathered him from the fruits of his experimentations. "I'll return to you as long as you spare Sakura's life."

Orochimaru and Kabuto laughed in concert. Orochimaru wheezed through his course chuckles. "How comical! The clone of the man wishing to save the life of the girl he was responsible for killing!"

"I'm not _that_ Madara! I am my own person!" Madara objected defiantly, his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan radiating with fury.

"It does not matter who you are. You were merely created to serve as my next vessel. You were only given a soul in order to awaken your ocular powers."

Just as Tsunade had speculated, Sakura confirmed her mentor's hypothesis.

Orochimaru shrugged his shoulders and feigned a dreary sigh. "I am more than thrilled for your return but unfortunately it seems you have been contaminated."

"Contaminated…?" Madara wrinkled his nose echoing the Sannin's last word.

"Yes, contaminated. The perfect vessel should be as pure and naïve as an infant—unknowing of the world beyond its creator. This makes the soul transfer process far more convenient. However, you escaped my laboratory and formed ties with the outside world adding a distinct layer of complexity to the transfer process. A vessel that has formed bonds and attachments will be defiant and holds a greater likelihood of overpowering and expelling my soul."

Orochimaru stepped aside unveiling a large amber pot with a white rope tied around the rim. The unique stylized kanji for "lightning" had been etched into its surface.

"Now that you have awakened the full potential of your eyes, I can always wipe that pesky spirit of yours clean and save myself the trouble of trying to recreate another viable clone."

Sasuke and Sakura widened their eyes in horror recognizing the distinctive pot behind Orochimaru.

"How did you get that?" Sasuke demanded through gritted teeth.

The Snake Sannin uttered a deep, throaty chuckle. He glanced to Kabuto who responded in kind with a smirk. "Kabuto and I have been very diligent in preserving Madara's power."

Sakura placed a hand on Madara's shoulder issuing him a stern warning. "Mada-kun, don't respond to Orochimaru anymore."

"What? But he has yet to remove that seal." Madara protested bewildered by her peculiar warning.

"Ah, that's right, Sakura. You wish for me to remove that Cursed Seal." Orochimaru said in a high pitched voice teeming with phony cordiality. His voice suddenly descended into a low, venomous growl. "Well, too bad. You shouldn't have been meddling in affairs that did not concern you, hun."

Sakura's mouth gaped in utter shock even though she had truthfully expected his betrayal. He was the only one capable of safely removing the seal and a slim, desperate part of her had hoped that he just might. However, she was well accustomed to the Sannin's backstabbing tendencies and knew deep down that he would never honor his end of the bargain.

Sasuke drew his blade swiftly and brandished the weapon before Orochimaru.

"As my former student, you know better than to strike a deal with me." Orochimaru folded his arms derisively.

"I already knew you would do no such thing." Sasuke flew at him imbuing lightning chakra into his blade.

"Think carefully about the consequences of your actions. If I die, then Sakura will surely die as well." Orochimaru prolonged his torso sideways skirting the tip of the blade as he eyed the veins of lightning prudently.

Sasuke grinned darkly pursuing the serpentine man. "I'm also aware that you're too damn stubborn to die."

Orochimaru danced backward avoiding Sasuke's assault. As soon as his master deserted the pot, Kabuto immediately went to act in his stead.

_I can't let them seal away Mada-kun's soul!_ Sakura launched towards Kabuto drawing a chakra-laden fist back towards her hip. _I have to keep them away from the Amber Purifying Pot!_

Kabuto easily evaded her sluggish punch and jumped backward as her fist created a monstrous crater in the stone flooring. She clasped her hands stringing together a series of hand signs and yelped as a jolt of pain suddenly wracked her forehead. Instinctively, her hand clutched her brow in an attempt to smother the sharp pain.

The silver haired medic-nin uttered a scornful laugh and wagged his finger tauntingly. "You can't draw power from the Shikkotsu forest with Orochimaru's senjutsu chakra afflicting your seal."

Unfortunately, he was right. It was difficult to draw power from her Byakugou Seal with the Cursed Seal contaminating her chakra. For now, she would have to rely on taijutsu to lure Kabuto away from the pot.

While Sasuke and Sakura battled Madara's creator and his apprentice, Madara dawdled vacantly toward the large amber pot as an inexplicable presence seemed to draw him towards it. He wasn't exactly sure what was so enticing about the pot but he continued to meander towards it like a moth drawn to a flame. Something called out to him…something trapped within the confines of the pot further piquing his curiosity.

Perhaps he should take a peek inside.

Grasping the lid of the pot, he suddenly felt a tinge of inhibition warning him to refrain from handling the pot.

However, a far louder voice within him convinced him that there was no harm in taking a quick peek inside.

He slid the lid sideways from the mouth of the rim creating a sliver of opening and craned his neck over the lip of the lid peeking into the deep pit inside. As he rose to his tip toes to catch a better glance inside, a bright red light leapt out of the pot attacking him like a rabid animal.

Sakura felt her heart palpitate upon hearing the boy's sharp cry. His tiny body had been propelled backward and slammed mercilessly to the ground from the force of whatever had just assaulted him.

"Mada-kun!" Sakura called out abandoning her battle with Kabuto to rush to the boy's aid. She mentally berated herself for turning her back to the enemy but her duty to aid her comrades trumped all other matter.

He lay supine on the ground rendered unconscious from the trauma. She fell to her knees and opened his robe assessing for trauma or injury. She placed her hands on his chest probing for any hint of internal injury or disturbances to his chakra but her scan turned up with negative results. Her hand rested upon on his forehead searching for signs of head trauma. Did he hit his head?

"Mada-kun? Mada-kun, what happened?!" She cried out as Kabuto approached them fixing his attention to the amber pot.

"It looks like he opened the pot. That means he…" Kabuto's voice deadpanned. She couldn't see his eyes from behind the glare of his glasses but the tone of his voice sent an icy shiver down her spine.

Madara's eyes lifted open slowly seeing nothing but a world enveloped in pink. He blinked again. His vision began to sharpen and clear of the murky haze with each consecutive blink. The pink haired girl hovered over him running her hands over his body for reasons unknown to him.

Her emerald eyes were rife with concern. "Are you alright?"

This girl…why the hell was she asking him this? And why was she touching him? Wasn't she dead?

He sat up abruptly, oblivious to his current whereabouts. The girl placed her arms around his shoulders supporting his swaying body.

"Mada-kun, you shouldn't sit up so suddenly if you hit your head."

Mada-kun?

The girl unleashed an agonized wail as her warm blood splattered onto his chest and partially opened robe. Kabuto swiftly removed himself from their vicinity dodging the sudden spatter of blood and readily switched into defensive mode.

The boy ran his hand through her chest penetrating her right lung. He withdrew his hand hissing in a callously low tone far beneath his typical vocal range. "**Don't touch me, ugly woman**!"

Sakura collapsed to the ground with a heavy thump as the boy rose to his feet and studied his hands curiously. Madara flicked the girl's blood from his hand and wiped the remaining blood on his pants.

He glanced to the silver haired man who he recognized as Kabuto and noted that he seemed oddly taller. Catching sight of his reflection in the glass surface of a beaker, he examined the young boy gazing back at him. "Why did you bring me back like this?"

"That wasn't our intention." Kabuto responded as bluntly as possible—evidently a half truth.

He activated his Rinnegan experimentally and smirked at the marked success. It seemed his powers remained intact despite his inexplicable childlike appearance. Dismissing the reasoning behind his childlike state from his thoughts, he assessed his surrounding environment calculatingly. He detested the perspective of gazing up at his opponents. Summarily, he performed the transformation jutsu restoring his appearance to that of his prime years.

"Madara!" Sasuke roared as he and Orochimaru ceased further battle interrupted by the unexpected reemergence of the notorious Uchiha.

"You again." Madara stated flatly folding his arms.

Sakura rose, staggering to her feet. She formed a brief hand seal unleashing the chakra of her Byakugou Seal. The seal spread across her face and extended down her chest enveloping her body in a veil of rejuvenating green chakra. The soothing chakra hastened the creation of new cells mending her punctured lung and restoring the surrounding tissue. As she finished sending chakra to the superficial wounds in her skin, a sudden pang of pain rattled her. The toxic chakra of the Cursed Seal had seeped into the wound she just healed. She immediately terminated any further use of the chakra and reformed the Byakugou Seal. However, her efforts had been too delayed and the poisonous chakra continued to wrack her with pain.

Her piercing screams reverberated throughout the laboratory seizing Madara's attention.

"Quiet!" He snatched her throat instantly silencing her. He curled his fingers ruthlessly around her delicate windpipe and lifted her in the air. "Trying to simultaneously control two clashing chakras? Your pathetic body can't handle that."

As he recalled, this girl's chakra possessed the same regenerative capabilities as the Hokage's and, to an extent, Hashirama's. He decided it would be best to cover his bases and acquire a means of regeneration should he somehow sustain damage in combat.

She resumed her deafening screams as her chakra suddenly began to leave her body. With the power of his Rinnegan, he ravenously absorbed her chakra draining her of any ounce of chakra he could extract from her.

"Sakura!" Sasuke raced towards his distressed comrade as her anguished screams continued to resonate violently within his ears.

Unfortunately, he was too late.

"Mada…kun…" A sole tear escaped the basin of her eye as her green orbs glazed over before conclusively flipping shut. She fell limp in his merciless hold as he depleted the very last of her chakra. The blackened rhombus mark adorning her brow finally deserted her leaving her forehead bare and pitiful.

No longer interested in the lifeless shell of a girl, he cast her away nonchalantly and set pitiless eyes on his next potential victims.

* * *

_A/N: I wonder how upset people would be if I just left the story there and didn't update for several years. Mwahaha! _

_Nah. There's definitely more to come! _

_Please review and thanks again for reading! _


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